


Interlude in Maine, An

by roslinadamasinequanon



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-18
Updated: 2006-10-18
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:09:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 63,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roslinadamasinequanon/pseuds/roslinadamasinequanon
Summary: FollowsBottles, Babies and Change. Jed and Abbey have 5 1/2 month old twins. Abbey has left for a vacation in Maine alone, after Jed kicked off his re-election campaign. An angry Jed has returned to Washington.





	Interlude in Maine, An

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Chapter 1: 

Abbey took a deep breath of contentment as the small motorcade that included the car holding her, Zoey, and the babies began down the long private lane to the cottage. Windy Point sat nestled in the pines, at the very tip of a rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea. She had been vacationing in this wild place on the Maine coast since she had married Jed. It was a completely different experience from her childhood summers on the sandy beaches of Nantucket, but she had grown to think of this tempestuous peninsula as hers. Oh, there were other vacations, Nantucket, Europe, all those national parks, but always, always, they returned to Windy Point. Technically it still belonged to Jed's mother, but as she aged, she was spending less and less time there. At the moment she was visiting Jon and Sally at their retreat in Wolfeboro, on Lake Winnepesauke. In a couple of weeks all of them would return for the big anniversary party, but until then, she was on her own with the kids. 

"It's killing you, isn't it?" Zoey smiled. 

"What?" Abbey asked. 

"The service not letting you open your window." Abbey smiled back at her daughter. It was a running joke in the Bartlet family that as soon as they went over the bridge that spanned Great Bay, just outside Portsmouth, on their way to Maine, they all had to open their windows so Abbey could smell her beloved sea. Jed would pretend to be disgusted and wrinkle his nose saying, "Abigail, I don't know how the perfume of your soul could be mud flats and decaying seaweed. It is just beyond me." Then, the girls would all giggle, knowing that their Dad loved the beach just as much as their Mom. He just enjoyed teasing her. 

Once they unloaded everything from the car, Abbey settled the babies into their cribs, and made her way upstairs to unpack in hers and Jed's bedroom. She loved this room with it's sweeping views of the ocean. Zoey had been conceived in this room on one socked in foggy day. She went straight to the windows, opening them, to allow the salty breeze to play with the sheer white curtains. Perfume of the soul, she thought sadly and realized that as nice as it was to be back at the rambling gray shingled cottage, she keenly missed Jed's presence. 

*** 

None of the White House staffers would forget the week that the First Lady packed her bags and headed for the beach house, rather than the White House. The President had returned to Washington in a black mood. Nobody was spared the lashing of his tongue and they had all begun to enter the Oval Office as if walking on eggshells, never quite sure what would set him off. He was more bad tempered than they had ever seen him before. Even worse then when Morris Tolliver's plane had been shot down and he had wanted to bomb the whole country of Syria, to hell with a proportional response! 

Nobody dared bring up the First Lady's absence with him, for fear of having their head ripped off. Even Leo had remained silent on the subject. But, they did talk among themselves, wondering just what was going on between the couple. 

"Have you asked him?" Josh asked Leo, who was sitting at his desk looking over the schedule Josh had just handed him. 

"Asked him what?" Leo asked, eyeing his deputy over his glasses. 

"You know," Josh said uncomfortably, "why the First Lady left him?" 

"The First Lady did NOT leave me," Jed snapped from the doorway. "I will be joining her next week." 

"I'm sorry sir. I..." 

"Josh, my marriage is NOT the subject for water cooler gossip. Not now, NOT EVER. You'll do well to remember that." 

"Yes sir," Josh said contritely and Jed turned to leave, slamming the door behind him. 

"That," Leo said, pointing at the door, "is why I haven't asked." 

**** 

Abbey wasn't sleeping well, despite the soothing sound of the surf that usually lulled her to sleep. Most mornings she rose at dawn, a little before her young infants and well before her teenage daughter. She spent those cool Maine mornings in a heavy fisherman's sweater, sipping coffee on the porch, looking out to sea, and listening to the gulls cry. The air here was crisp and clear, a combination of pine and briny sea and the mildest hint of the beach roses that grew in profusion near the path that led to their private beach. It was the scent of her childhood, only now it was failing to comfort her as it usually did. 

The morning Jane was to arrive for a short visit on her way to do some painting in Boothbay, Abbey stood on that porch, her arms wrapped around her waist, as if comforting herself. Even with Zoey and the twins with her, she had never felt quite so alone in her life. So unsure of what the next step was. 

This heavy feeling of loneliness was not because she had never been to the beach house alone with the kids before. There had been plenty of times that she had come early with the children and Jed had joined them later. But never had she run away to this place. Abbey Bartlet did not run away. She stood her ground and fought. Only, this time, she had run away from her problems, and that did not sit well with her. It made her feel weak, it made her feel like a coward. What she should have done was to lock Jed in a room with her and not let him leave until they had it out. They might have left the room emotionally bruised and battered, but they might also be on the road to healing right now instead of separated by hundreds of miles. Now all she could do was to trust her Jed. Trust that he truly did love her and that he would come to his senses if she just gave him time to reflect. And, if her mind was tortured with the reminder that Jed had broken that trust she had in him, her heart urged her to have faith in the man she loved. Faith that the bond they shared was stronger than anything else in his life. 

**** 

When Jane arrived at the cottage, Abbey was on the big wrap around porch settling Nicholas and Aislinn into their stroller. Jane noticed the changes in Abbey right away. Her vibrant, animated sister was pale and drawn. Too many worries and sleepless nights were starting to take their toll on her. There was a tightness around her eyes and a sadness that had not been there just 5 months ago. Five short months ago, when Jane had stood in that birthing room and witnessed the love and joy that Jed and Abbey had shared at the birth of their babies. Abbey asked her if she wanted to join her for a walk down the beach, but Jane had peered in through the window and saw a sleepy Zoey sitting at the kitchen table in the long t-shirt she had slept in, and chose to join her instead. 

"What the hell is going on here?" Jane asked her niece. "It's like someone died around here." 

"Mom and Daddy haven't been getting along well at all lately. They had a big fight at the farm about her coming here early, but she came anyway. She's been moping around here all week and I don't think she is sleeping very much. Last night I went out with some friends and got back late. I could hear her crying in her bedroom. When I knocked on her door and asked if she was ok, she told me she was fine and to just go to bed. 

"Your father needs a good swift kick in the ass," Jane said grabbing a handful of cereal and moving back out to the porch. She saw the photo album Abbey had been looking at before she left and opened to the first page. It was a picture of Jed laying on the couch wearing a Notre Dame t-shirt, with both Aislinn and Nicholas, just days old, asleep on his chest. He too was sound asleep, his hair tousled, his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a hand on each of his baby's backs. It was such a sweet, loving picture. One that Jane was sure Abbey had been torturing herself with. "Jackass," she muttered at her brother-in-law and moved to go sit on the rail. She caught sight of Abbey far down the beach, a solitary figure pushing the carriage on the hard packed sand of low tide. At a discreet distance behind her followed the dark clothed agents whose job it was to protect the President's wife and children. She realized then what she had seen in her sister this morning. It was defeat. No wonder she hadn't recognized it at first. She had never seen Abbey defeated and lost before. Oh Jed, you damned idiot, she thought, you should have come with her or carried her kicking and screaming back to the White House. Then, at least, she would know you care. 

**** 

"You need to pull yourself together," Leo said to Jed, behind the closed doors of the Oval Office. 

"What did you just say?" 

"You heard me. You're behaving like a lion with a thorn stuck in his paw." 

"I take it you think Abbey is the thorn?" 

"I think she is the only one who can remove it." 

"I can't deal with her anger right now. Not on top of everyone else's." 

"It wasn't anger that I saw on her face at the press conference. It was..." 

"Whoa...Wait a minute, back up. What do you mean at the press conference? Abbey wasn't there." 

"Yes she was, at the beginning anyway." 

"Until she heard me say I was running again. Right?" 

"Yeah," Leo nodded. "The look I saw on her face was not anger. To be honest, she looked like a puppy that had been kicked for no apparent reason." 

"And I was the one who did the kicking," Jed said, a lump forming in his throat at the image. "Did you talk to her?" 

"I tried," Leo grinned wryly. 

"And?" 

"And she told me fuck off and left." 

Jed nodded, realizing just how upset his wife had been. "I've handled this so badly, Leo." 

"It's not too late to fix it. Go to the residence, get some sleep, and call Abbey in the morning. You'll feel better." 

"I'll think about it," Jed said and made his way to the residence. 

**** 

"Have you talked to Daddy at all?" Zoey asked Abbey as the two of them laid stretched out on beach chairs, sunbathing. 

"A couple times," Abbey said, smoothing more sunblock on her shoulders. She didn't let on to her daughter just how brief their stilted conversation had been. "Now put on some more sunblock, you just got out of the water." 

"Mom," Zoey complained. 

"Do it. Your skin is as fair as mine and you know too much sun isn't good for you." Abbey stared at her daughter until Zoey reluctantly began to apply the lotion. 

"I don't like it when you and Daddy argue. I've never seen you guys have a fight like this one. You're not getting a divorce, are you?" 

"Zoey," Abbey turned to look into the tear filled eyes of her daughter, "Oh honey, your Dad and I aren't getting a divorce. We've been angry with each other before." 

"Not like this," Zoey insisted, "nobody ever left before." 

"I didn't leave your father. I just needed some space to think about a lot of things. Space away from the White House." 

"Well, I hope you make up soon. I don't like seeing you so sad and Daddy so mad." 

"I don't particularly enjoy it myself." 

"I do hope you have it all worked out in time for your big party." 

"Me too," Abbey sighed. "But, speaking of the party, have you talked to Ellie? Is she coming up early or just for the party?" 

"I'm not sure," Zoey said, wrinkling her nose. 

"What was that face for?" 

"I don't think she and Davis are getting along well at all." 

"Really? Did she say something?" Abbey asked, remembering Jed's feelings about the boy. 

"No, but last week Charlie and I went up to visit and go out to movie with them. I asked Ellie when she was planning on coming up. She said she wanted to come up the week before the party and she and Davis had a big argument about it, right in front of me and Charlie. I know Ellie was embarrassed. I don't like him and I don't like the way he talks to her." 

"You are your father's daughter," Abbey said, trying to smile reassuringly. But, Zoey's statement caused an involuntary shiver of apprehension to run down her spine. 

**** 

Jed was pacing around his bedroom, his demons eating away at him. He missed Abbey, he missed his babies. He missed talking to his wife over dinner and feeling her at his side in bed. He missed holding his son and daughter and trying to make them smile. He missed waking up to find Abbey nursing them in bed and the warm milky smell they had when they were finished and he would hold them until they fell asleep. He even missed being awakened by a screaming infant at 3 a.m. It was much too quiet here without his family. It scared him to think that this could become a permanent situation. He had not felt this kind of loneliness since he was a child. It was not just the loneliness of physical absence, it was sheer, utter emotional loneliness. The longing for love, the needing of a connection. That was how he had felt growing up, until he met Abbey, and she had shown him how easy it was to love and to laugh, and what a joy it could be to share your most private dreams and your most horrible demons. That was also how he had felt these past couple of months, especially this past week, since Abbey had packed up his family and gone. What had Leo said to him about a marriage dissolving? First it bothers you and then you begin not to care. Well, he knew damn well he would never make it to the part about not caring. 

When he thought about Abbey going to the press conference to support him, only to be kicked in the teeth, his heart ached. He thought of how bleak and empty his life was without her around. He picked up a silver framed picture off his bureau. It was one of his new favorites of Abbey. It was one of the pictures taken by Annie Leibovitz, just days after Abbey and the twins came home from the hospital. In it, she sat on the rocking chair with her white silk bathrobe opened, baring one creamy shoulder, and their tiny infant nursing at her breast. Her head was tilted to one side, her coppery hair spilling over her bare shoulder, as she gazed down at the baby with such a serene look of tender motherly love it made his breath catch in his throat. 

"You're more important to me than the Presidency, Abbey," he said, running a thumb over the cool glass of the picture. "You always have been." 

**** 

"What's wrong with him? Why is he crying so hard?" Jane asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she entered the living room, where Abbey was walking with her screaming son on her shoulder. 

"He's been cutting a tooth and I think he had a earache. He's been tugging at his ear a little. I just gave him some amoxicillin, so hopefully he'll calm down soon." 

"Poor little guy. It sounds like he is in a lot of pain." 

"He is," Abbey said running her hand soothingly over the baby's back. "Ssh...it's ok Nicky, Mommy's got you." 

"You're so calm. I'd be a nervous wreck, not knowing what was wrong and why they were crying." 

"That comes with experience. You should have seen me when Elizabeth was a newborn. God, when I think back to that time, it's a wonder we survived it. 22 years old, a new wife and mother, and in a foreign country. I was on the phone every day with Mom. Jed used to have a fit when he got the phone bill. But I'll tell you, this doesn't get any easier. It just breaks my heart when they cry like this and I can't do much of anything but hold them and comfort them." 

"You're a good mom, Abbey. You were right from the start, even when you didn't know what you were doing," Jane laughed. "But why did you bring Nicky down here?" 

"I didn't want him waking up Aislinn or Tom." 

"Did you get a chance to talk to Tom?" 

"Yeah, we had a really nice evening together. It really cleared my head about a lot of things." 

**** 

Jed awoke the next morning to a dark, gloomy room and the sound of rain pattering against the windows. He groaned and nestled deeper under the covers. Dark, rainy mornings like these were meant to be spent in snuggling under the covers with his sexy little wife. Speaking of his sexy little wife, he owed her a phone call. He reached for the phone, wanting to pour everything from his heart, but knowing he would wait until he could see her in person before letting everything go. Right now, he just wanted her to know he was thinking about her. 

"Hello," said the voice on the other end. 

"Hello, is this Hattie?" 

"Yes, sir." Jed could hear a baby crying in the background. 

"Is my wife busy?" 

"At the moment she is changing your daughter's diaper. Would you like me to have her call you back?" 

"Well..." Jed paused, he could hear a masculine voice in the background saying, "Abbey, why don't you give him to me? You were up all night with him." 

"Thank you," his wife responded, "you're a godsend." 

"Is that my brother's voice I hear?" he asked. 

"No, sir. That is a friend of Mrs. Bartlet's. He's been visiting. Oh, she's free now, would you like to speak with her?" 

"Uh, no, thank you. It's not important," Jed said and hung up. Right away his mind began to race with possibilities as to what man would be visiting his wife. This man who had stayed overnight and obviously knew his son very well. He picked up the phone again. 

"Leo," he said firmly, "I'm just calling to let you know I'm going to Maine." 

**** 

Jed let his mind wander in the car on the way from the airport in Portland to Windy Point. Images of his wife twisted in another man's embrace had been sent packing. His anger had been replaced by rational thought. This was his Abbey. The woman he loved and trusted before anyone else. The woman he trusted with his life. Abbey would never do anything tawdry in front of Zoey. Hell, there was no way she would ever cheat on him, period. Of that he was sure. And so, he entered the cottage much calmer. The house was quiet, the rooms empty. He made his way upstairs and, as he walked down the hall, he heard voices coming from the half closed doors of the bathroom. It was Abbey's voice and a man's. 

"Wait," he heard Abbey say softly, "don't do it like that. It hurts when you do it like that. Here, let me show you." 

"Is this better?" came the response and Jed felt a red haze of rage fill him so quickly it made him lightheaded. 

"Oh yes, much better. Now squeeze right..." 

"ABIGAIL!!!" Jed shoved the bathroom door open. 

Chapter 2: 

"ABIGAIL!!!" Jed flung the door to the bathroom open furiously. "I'm gonna kill him!!" 

"Jesus Jed, you scared the hell out of me," Abbey jumped, her hand moving to her chest, where her heart beat erratically. Jed was confronted by the startled eyes of his wife and Father Tom Cavanaugh. Then, as Abbey regained her composure, her eyes narrowed as she glared at her red faced husband. 

"Just who are you planning on killing, Josiah?" 

"Uh...nobody...I...just...well, what IS going on in here?" he stammered, completely mortified by his outburst. 

"What does it look like?" Abbey asked sarcastically, as she held out her bleeding hand that Tom was in the process of bandaging. "I was doing the dishes and I cut my hand on a piece of broken glass. Tom was taking the glass out. What did YOU think was going on?" 

"I...I don't know...I" 

"Oh for heaven's sake Jed, I know exactly what you thought was going on. Is that the reason you came up here? Because you thought I was cheating on you?" 

"No that's not why...I" 

"Oh save it," she said shaking her head with disgust, "My God Jed, I don't even know you anymore," and with that statement she grabbed the gauze and brushed by him. Jed watched her form retreat down the hall. 

"Well, I have to say this is a first for me," Tom said, amused. "I've never been the object of a jealous husband's ire before. I never thought I could cause that kind of heated response, especially at the advanced age of 76." 

"I can't do anything right by her lately," Jed said, frustrated. 

"You're here. That's a start." 

"Has she talked to you at all?" 

"Yes. But, you know I can't discuss that with you." 

"Tom, I need all the help I can get," Jed sighed. 

"Just be open," Tom smiled. "Open your ears, open your mind, and open your heart. Listen to what she has to say. Explain to her what is in your own heart." 

"I don't know if she even wants to listen to me." 

"Oh, she'll listen. She's hurting, Jed," he patted him on the shoulder. "Go find your wife. Make things right again." 

Jed nodded at the priest and turned to go and do just that. 

**** 

Jed poked his head into the nursery looking for Abbey. She was not there, but he was stopped by the sight of Nicholas and Aislinn sleeping peacefully in the same crib, each wearing just a white cotton t-shirt and a diaper. He moved forward to stand by the crib and watch them sleep, smiling with paternal tenderness. He watched their tiny exposed bellies rise and fall as they breathed. Nicholas sucked his fist as he slept, while Aislinn lay trustingly with her arms stretched wide. They were so tiny, so innocent, and so vulnerable that he felt a surge of protectiveness fill him. He thanked God they were too young to understand any of the strife that was going on around them at the moment. He knew it was a futile wish, but he did wish with all his heart that he could keep them from ever knowing pain or sorrow or heartbreak. That he could keep them safe forever. 

"I love you guys," he whispered, "I'm going to fix everything with your Mom. I promise." 

"Sir, could you come here please?" Hattie whispered from the doorway. 

"What can I do for you?" Jed asked. 

"I would appreciate it if you could restrict your visits to the nursery to when the babies are awake." 

"Excuse me?" 

"I am trying to get them on a schedule. If you wake them, you will throw off that schedule." 

"I wasn't going to wake them. I was watching them sleep." 

"Well, as long as we understand each other," she turned and walked away from him. Jed wasn't happy with how the nanny had just spoken to him about his own children, but, he had bigger issues to deal with at the moment. He had to find his wife. 

It was evident that Abbey wasn't in the house, so Jed headed outside to search. He started down toward the gazebo where she sometimes liked to sit and think, or read. But the gazebo was empty. He turned and began to wander down the rocky trail overlooking their private beach. As he passed the small shed where they kept gardening supplies and beach chairs, he noticed the door had been left open. He moved closer to inspect and peered inside. Laying on the table was a large sketchbook. Jane's sketchbook. He stepped forward and opened it to the first page, then the second, and the third. He felt his throat constrict with emotion as he took in the subject of the sketches. It was Abbey. Abbey sitting on a rock staring out to sea. Abbey standing on the porch, arms wrapped around her waist, staring out to sea. Abbey standing among the beach roses, the wind blowing her hair, a baby on her shoulder, staring out to sea. This was an Abbey aching with sadness. Jane had captured the loneliness and despair with poignant intensity. How could he have ever believed she would be better off if he left her alone? 

"Oh Abbey, what have I done?" He said sadly. 

"Well, well, well, the prodigal husband returns," Jane said sarcastically from the doorway. 

"Hi Jane." 

"Don't hi Jane me. You took your sweet time getting here. Do you know what you have put my sister through? Do you know she doesn't think what she feels matters to you at all? Do you know she thinks your ambition has taken over your heart? Do you know she cries herself to sleep at night?" 

"Jane, don't..." Jed said, closing his eyes against Jane's words and the image of Abbey crying in their bed. He knew his wife did not give in to tears easily, so he knew just what kind of pain he must have caused her in order for her to be overwhelmed by it. 

"As I told your daughter, someone needs to kick you in the ass, Jed." 

"Consider my ass kicked," he said. "You did that with your sketches. They're incredible. Abbey is so heartbreakingly beautiful and lost." 

"You know what she is looking out to sea waiting for, don't you?" 

"What?" Jed asked. 

"You, you foolish jackass," she shook her head. "She's been waiting for you to come back to her, and not just your physical presence." 

"I'm back," Jed assured her. "And I'd like to buy these sketches from you." 

"They aren't for sale." 

"I know you wouldn't sell them to the public, but, I'd like to buy them." 

"I'll have to think about it." 

"Fair enough. Whatever the price, you name it. Now I have to go find that sister of yours and try to redeem myself." 

**** 

Jed finally found Abbey on the cliffs overlooking the crashing surf. She was sitting on a big rock in her bikini top and sarong, her knees drawn to her chest and she was staring wistfully out to sea, just as she had in the sketches. The sun was bringing out the fiery red highlights in her hair and, as he got closer, he could see her nose was slightly pink with sunburn. A few freckles that she hated and he loved were showing. He stood silently gazing at this beautiful woman who meant everything to him. She was his best friend. The one person in the world to whom he could confide all his hopes, his dreams, his secrets, and his fears. She was his lover, the one woman who could make him lose all sense of reason with just a glance from those teasing, mischievous, hazel eyes or a curve of that flirtatious, seductive smile. She was the mother of his children. The woman who had given him the five most amazing gifts in his life. The woman he had shared the incredibly intimate experience of giving life with, and then raising the new lives they had created together. She was the woman he had laughed with, cried with, fought with, and made love with since he was 22 years old. She was his soulmate. The person he was meant to grow old with. She was everything to him and it was time he made her understand that again. 

"Abbey," he touched her shoulder gently, "mind if I sit with you?" Abbey didn't acknowledge his presence, she just continued to look out to sea. Jed sat down next to her, his own eyes gazing down at the crashing waves, while he willed himself to come up with the right words. 

"How could you honestly believe that I would be up here screwing another man?" She asked, still not looking at him. 

"I didn't, Abbey. I swear. I mean when I first heard a man's voice on the phone that jealous, jackass, part of me jumped to conclusions. But, I came to my senses. I know I can trust you. Then, when I heard your voices in the bathroom, I guess I just lost my head." 

"Something you do quite often." 

"When it comes to you, yes, I do. Sometimes, with you Abbey, I don't know if I am coming or going." 

"I was wrong, Jed," she said softly, turning her cheek on her knee to look at him, "I have dealt with this all wrong. I ran away when I should have stayed and fought it out with you. I just needed to breathe. Away from your people. Away from the White House where I am outnumbered." 

"You're never outnumbered Abbey...I..." 

"MOM!" They both turned to see Zoey shouting down to them from the head of the trail. 

"What?" Abbey called back. 

"Hattie wanted me to tell you that the babies are awake and hungry and you didn't make up any bottles." 

"Tell her I'll be right there." 

Jed stood and gave Abbey his hand, helping her to her feet. 

"We need to talk," he said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Away from any interruptions." 

"And just how will we accomplish that?" She asked. 

"We'll go out for a moonlight cruise on the 'Abigail Anne' tonight. Just you and me. The service will stay on the cigarette boats. We're going to hash this all out once and for all, Abbey." 

Abbey nodded her head and turned to go up the path. Halfway up, she turned back to him. 

"By the way, Jed, why did you come up here?" 

"Because I did a lot of thinking while you were gone and I made some major decisions. I wanted to share them with you in person, not on the phone." 

Abbey stared hard at her husband, for once unable to read his face. She felt her heart tighten, as her mind began to race with just what kind of major decisions he had made, and how those decisions would affect their relationship and their family. 

"I have to go feed the babies," she said softly and turned to go to the house. 

**** 

Abbey entered the nursery to see Zoey changing Aislinn's diaper, while Hattie changed Nicholas. 

"Oh, Mrs. Bartlet. It's a good thing you're here. You didn't make any reserve bottles," said Hattie, almost reprovingly. Abbey eyed her coolly as she began to unhook her bikini top. 

"I didn't think I'd need to," she said, taking Aislinn from Zoey. "I didn't have any plans for the day. The President's arrival was a surprise." Abbey took a seat in the rocking chair and began to nurse her daughter. Hattie stopped in the middle of changing Nicholas to look at the First Lady. Secretly she had always thought it odd that a woman of Abigail Bartlet's stature was personally breast feeding her babies, but, then again, as she had been told, she was definitely from the old school. 

"That's something else I wanted to talk to you about." 

"What?" Abbey asked, while running a finger lovingly over Aislinn's soft cheek. 

"I already talked to him about it, but, I was hoping you would reinforce the issue for me. I asked the President not to visit the nursery while the twins are sleeping." 

"What?" Abbey asked sharply, a frown marring her brow. Aislinn gave a small startled whimper at her mother's tone. "Ssh..." Abbey stroked her downy soft head soothingly, then looked back up at Hattie. "These are HIS children." 

"I'm aware of that ma'am, but, as I told him, I can't have him coming in and disrupting their schedules. I know he said he was just watching them sleep but..." 

"Are you telling me that your boss, the President of the United States, the FATHER of these two infants, came in here to watch them sleep and you told him he wasn't ALLOWED to do that? WE are the parents, not you." 

"I need to have control of the nursery." 

"You need to leave," Abbey said coldly. She then turned more warmly to her daughter, "Zoey honey, would you please finish changing Nicky's diaper?" 

"Ma'am," Hattie huffed. 

"I'm sorry Hattie, but, this just isn't going to work out. I need a nanny who understands that Jed and I are the parents of these babies and we will come and go as we please. You can pack up and I'll have a severance check with plane fare for you." Hattie gave her a stony stare and then turned and left the room. 

"You go Mom," Zoey grinned broadly, admiration shining in her eyes. "I've never really liked her. She makes me nervous." 

"To tell you the truth, I never did either, but she came so highly recommended, I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt. But, now I have to find a new nanny, not to mention the fact that I made plans to go sailing with your father tonight." 

"I'll babysit." 

"Don't you have plans with your friends?" 

"We'll just hang here and watch movies. You need to go with Daddy." 

"I know," Abbey sighed and she felt the butterflies fill her stomach again. Oh Jed, she thought, twisting the wedding band on her finger, just what major decision are you going to drop on me tonight? 

Chapter 3: 

After making the date with Abbey to sail that evening, Jed had disappeared for the afternoon. Abbey was disappointed that he'd been gone, for she had felt slightly off guard since their conversation earlier in the day. She had hoped to have some sort of contact with him and re-establish some of their old rapport before he dropped his big news on her. But, that was not to be. He had returned very late in the afternoon, told her he'd been working on the boat, and gone straight into the shower. 

While he showered, Abbey searched her wardrobe for an outfit to wear that evening. She couldn't believe that she actually felt like a teenager preparing for a date, a little nervous and a little excited. She shook her head, chastising herself for being silly. This was Jed after all, she thought, while dabbing perfume on her wrist. He certainly wasn't an unknown quantity. She would like to have chosen some sexy outfit guaranteed to knock him as off guard as she felt, but, they were sailing after dusk and evenings on the water could get pretty chilly. She finally chose a pair of slim fitting jeans and a cream colored sweater that had a zipper down the chest. She unzipped it partway down, revealing just a hint of cleavage, and smiled. She knew exactly what buttons to push when it came to her husband. 

When she had finished dressing, she went out on the porch to wait for him. Jed found her leaning against the rail, her head resting against the beam. He stepped outside quietly, closing the screen door behind him. He tried approaching her silently, but Abbey had known the moment he had joined her on the porch. The scent of his bay rum aftershave had given him away. He stepped up behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, kissing the back of her neck. She hadn't expected that and felt her pulse race. 

"Ready to go?" Jed asked. 

"Yes," she said, taking a deep breath. As ready as I'll ever be, she thought. 

**** 

It was dusk when they arrived at the harbor where the 'Abigail Anne' was moored. Jed took Abbey's hand as they walked over the docks toward their schooner. Abbey gave him a sideways glance with a soft smile. It had been a long time since Jed had simply wanted to hold her hand. 

The 'Abigail Anne' was a 35 foot schooner, complete with a galley and two sleeper bunks. They had purchased it with the million dollars Jed received with his Nobel Prize. Abbey had insisted he purchase something extravagant, something he wanted but might not have purchased. They certainly hadn't needed the money. They lived very comfortably on their combined salaries, mainly thanks to the high six figures Abbey brought in as a much sought after surgeon. Both had family money, but that was all put in trusts for their girls. So, Jed had purchased the schooner, something the whole family would enjoy, and donated the rest of the money to various charities. 

While Jed and Abbey boarded the schooner, their agents dispersed into several high powered cigarette boats and a Coast Guard cutter, which would follow them at a discreet distance while they sailed. Abbey had grown up on the water and was a seasoned sailor. She often took her turn at the helm, captaining the boat, but tonight Jed was the undisputed captain of their voyage. Abbey played first mate, helping him prepare the riggings to lift the sails as they left the harbor for the open sea. Once the sails were lifted and the wind caught them, Jed took his place at the wheel, and Abbey settled in next to him. 

"So, why was Zoey babysitting tonight?" Jed asked. "I asked her, but she got a funny look on her face and said I should talk to you." 

"I fired Hattie today," she said, opening a bottle of wine. 

"You FIRED her? What did she do? Kick you out of the nursery?" 

"No, she kicked you out. She told me about what happened with you earlier and asked me to help her keep you out of the nursery when the babies were sleeping. I mean, is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? I guess we just had irreconcilable differences when it comes to child rearing, and, since the children in question are mine, she is leaving. What are you smiling about?" 

"You," he said, grinning even more broadly, "my fierce lioness protecting us all." 

"Well, why didn't you say something when she tossed you out on your ass?" 

"It took me by surprise. And really, who am I, a mere man, to question you women and your baby schedules?" 

"Schedules are important, but nothing is more important than a parent's love and interest," she said, leaning back on her hands and allowing the wind to blow her hair back from her face. She gave herself up to the power of the boat as it rocked up and down on the waves, the sea spray flying over the bow. Her neck was arched back so she could gaze at the moon and Jed thought, not for the first time, that his wife was just as elemental as the sea she loved. Sometimes calm, steady, and life sustaining, and other times, wild, tempestuous, and stormy. And always, always unpredictable and exciting. Even her eyes were the ever changing color of the ocean, moving from gray, to green, to blue, and every shade in between, at the whim of her mood. 

While pretending to stare at the sky, Abbey's gaze kept falling on her husband. He stood relaxed and at ease at the helm, awash in the light of the moon wearing faded jeans and a navy cable knit sweater. His dark blond hair was windblown the way she loved it. Boyish and sexy. Damn was he a fine looking man, she thought, and felt a liquid rush of desire she was sure Jed must have seen when he caught her eye. 

"Getting hungry?" he asked as they cruised around the tip of land that held the lighthouse. 

"Oh yeah," she sighed, then blushed when she realized Jed had meant for food, not him, and threw back his head with a deep masculine laugh. 

"I'll anchor in the cove at Barren Island and we'll have supper." 

"Should I go down and..." 

"No," he cut her off, "I took care of it." 

"You cooked supper?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"That look wounds me, Red. Don't worry, it isn't chili or barbecued steaks. Tonight's supper is catered, courtesy of the Lighthouse Inn." 

"Well, that's ok then," she grinned saucily. 

**** 

The setting for their supper was perfect. They were anchored in a secluded cove and Jed had set the table on the deck complete with white linen, candles, and flowers. Soft, romantic music played in the background. 

Abbey had finished her lobster bisque and was merely pushing her grilled shrimp Caesar salad around her plate. Now that the time had drawn near for real communication, both had become tentative and unsure. Their conversation had centered on safe subjects like the weather and the kids. There was tension and a world of hurt laying between them, an invisible barrier that neither seemed able to break through. 

Oh damn, why did this have to be so hard? Abbey wondered. Why couldn't she ask him straight out what decisions he had made? Because she was scared, that's why. Whatever his decision was, it could affect the rest of her life. She watched him take a bite of food, drink from his wind glass, seemingly unconcerned with the turmoil laying between them. Dammit, he owed her an explanation. She began to wonder if he thought that he could ignore everything that had happened. That he could wine, dine, romance, and seduce her, assuming that all would be forgiven. Could he actually be that dense? She swallowed past the lump in her throat and Jed saw her eyes go shiny with tears. 

"Abbey?" 

"I can't do this anymore, Jed. I can't pretend everything is all right between us," she pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, turning away from him to lean against the deck rail looking toward the island. 

Jed took a deep breath remembering the words he had spoken to Leo when Leo had told him Jenny wanted a divorce. You're the man. FIX IT. It was time to heed his own advice. He got to his feet and moved to his wife, placing his hands on her shoulders. He gently turned her to face him, his heart melting at the evidence of her tears. 

"Oh Abbey," he sighed sadly and ran his thumb over her cheek to wipe away her tears. "I was wrong and I'm sorry. I should have spoken with you before making the decision to run again. And, I shouldn't have blown up at you at the farm when you left me." 

"I didn't leave you," Abbey said stunned. "My God Jed, the whole reason I was so upset about you running again was because I was afraid of losing you. Why on earth would I just let you go?" 

"I don't know," he admitted. "But it sure felt that way. I have never felt more empty than I did going back to the White House alone. I was just being so damned stubborn because I felt guilty and you know when I feel guilty, I get angry. I wanted so much for you to be behind me and it really hurt that you weren't." 

"Just when haven't I been behind you, Jed? I put off medical school to follow you to London and give birth to your daughter. I've carried six of your children in my body and buried one. I have taken time off for every baby, every campaign. I worked and took care of the girls without you for much of the time while you were in Congress. I cut back my schedule when you became Governor, so I could perform the duties of the Governor's wife, and I gave up my whole profession when you told me you wanted to be President. I don't think any of that constitutes not being behind you." 

"You're right. I'm sorry," he said chagrined, and lowered his gaze. 

"Don't be sorry. It certainly hasn't been a one way street by any means. You only worked as a part time professor to take care of Elizabeth while I went to medical school. You cut your classes back when I was pregnant with Zoey and had all those months of bed rest. You were a rock getting me through those dark weeks after we lost Peter. You've gone to dozens of medical conventions with me, even though they bore the hell out of you. While other Congressman stayed in DC, you flew home every weekend to be with me and the kids. When all your advisors wanted you to run for the Senate, you chose to run for Governor instead so you could be home with us for good. We've both made sacrifices, Jed. That is what marriage is all about." 

"You've given up so much more than me. I saw that at the farm when I watched you riding over the fields. You gave up your freedom, your profession, your home, your lifestyle. It wasn't fair of me to assume you would want that for another four years. I should have stuck to our deal. I tried. I really did. But, the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't quit. Jesus, Abbey, quitting would mean this damn disease beat me. I would lose a part of myself. That part that is vital, and energetic, and that feeling of doing something so important, something bigger than myself. And for what? To go home and sit on the porch, watching the kids play, waiting to see if I become an invalid." 

"I know that now, Jed," she said softly. "I've watched you these past few months and I've pretty much gotten over the fact that you are running again. What I can't get over is the fact that you made that decision without me. You totally left me out of the loop and that HURTS. You sat behind closed doors with your senior staff working out the pros and cons and I wasn't even in the equation. I didn't matter a damn to you," her voice trembled with pain and bitterness. 

"That isn't how it happened, Abbey. It was just me and Leo. I told him I wasn't running again and he told the staff. They were as surprised as you by my comments at the press conference. But, they were there for me whether I ran or not." 

"I was there," her voice was barely a whisper. 

"I know baby," he ran his hand over her cheek, "I'm so sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you before I went out there. But, I'm not a quitter, Abbey. I can't quit on the country, I can't quit on myself. But it was selfish and I didn't give you a say in how you would spend the next five years. I don't want to lose you and I certainly don't want you to be miserable." 

"You won't lose me. It's not the five years that bothers me. It won't be easy with 2 energetic toddlers running around, but I can handle that. I was scared. I am scared. I'm scared of bullets riddling your body again and spending another horrific week with you lingering between life and death, or, worse yet, being killed this time. I'm scared of the MS rearing it's ugly head again...I" 

"Sssh," he placed his fingers on her lips. "Now that I've told you why I wanted to run again, I'm going to tell you why I've decided to drop out of the race." 

"What?" Abbey stared at him in shock. 

"You were right. We can tell everyone that after further consultation with my doctors I decided that I should not run for re-election." 

"But, what about everything you just said about why you couldn't quit?" 

"I couldn't quit because of the MS or because it might be too hard. Those were the wrong reasons. I can quit for you. I can quit to do what is best for my family." 

"You'd give it up? For me?" She asked the tears welling in her eyes. In that moment Abbey realized all she needed to know. What she had lost sight of over the past few months. It was the knowledge that she meant more to Jed than anything else. That she hadn't lost him to the Presidency, and she knew now that with that knowledge she would be able to share him. 

"I'd do anything for you Abbey. Don't you know that by now?" He cupped her cheek in his palm. 

"I'd begun to wonder," she choked. 

"I'm so sorry I was such a colossal ass," he said, pulling her into his arms and burying his face in her hair. 

"And I'm sorry I wouldn't listen to you in the beginning. I just didn't want you to blame me." 

"This is my decision, Abbey. I'll never blame you." 

"You're right. You won't blame me because you aren't dropping out of the race." 

"Abbey." 

"I don't want you to quit. My not wanting you to run really didn't have a hell of a lot to do with me. I may have given up a lot but look what I've gained. I have traveled all over the world. I've gotten to meet some incredibly fascinating, talented, and important people. I've had tea with the Queen of England and sat barefooted dining with the Emperor of Japan. I've met the Dalai Lama and stood talking to young people about democracy in the middle of Red Square. I've had the chance to make a difference in an extremely broad way." 

"I'm glad those trips had some redeeming qualities," he grumbled, remembering all those nights alone in his bed while she was off making a difference. 

"They did," she smiled, running a hand over his arm. "I realize taking all that away from you would be more detrimental to your health than being President is. I don't want to see this disease beat you. One of the things I have always loved so much about you is that you never back down from a fight or challenge. I don't want you to back down from this one. And I certainly can't think of anyone I would rather vote for than Jed Bartlet." 

"Abbey," he said, his voice now choked. 

"Sssh," she placed her fingers on his lips this time. "Not another word. Let's not let this moonlight and music go to waste. Hold me in your arms, Jed, and dance with me." 

"With pleasure, ma'am." He pulled her into his arms and she tucked her head into its customary spot under his chin. "You're an amazing woman, Abigail Bartlet." 

"I'm married to an amazing man," Abbey closed her eyes, resting dreamily against Jed's chest, while listening to the strains of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra and feeling her husband's heart beat under her cheek. She smiled as Jed began to croon softly in her ear, along with Sinatra, the words to 'Moonlight Serenade', 

The stars are aglow, And tonight, how their light, sets me dreaming, My love, do you know, That your eyes are like stars brightly beaming, I bring you and I sing you, A moonlight serenade. 

Abbey's heart overflowed with love for this man. This man who could make her feel so safe and loved and cherished. But, soon, what started out as an innocent romantic dance turned in to a rising desire. Abbey felt Jed growing hard against her belly. He had never been able to last very long slow dancing with her. She looked up at him with a sly smile. 

"Do you have any other recreational activities planned for this evening, Mr. President?" She asked innocently. 

"Right now I'd just like to make it to second base," he said. "I've been dying to do this all night." He reached out a hand and unzipped her sweater almost to her belly button exposing her rose colored camisole. How lucky he was to have found a woman who loved sexy, utterly feminine lingerie. He traced the silky edge of the thin camisole before cupping her breast, feeling her nipple harden against his palm. 

"You're a temptress, Abigail Bartlet. You knew I'd be dying to get that zipper down all night." 

"Can I help it if I know my man?" 

Jed grinned at the term. He couldn't think of anyone else's man he would rather be than the sexy woman standing in front of him. 

"So, what do you say," he asked, "safe at second?" He rubbed his thumb across her nipple. 

"Oh yeah, safe at second," she sighed arching into his palm. Jed pulled her back into his arms, covering her lips with his in a deep, open mouthed kiss. Abbey responded heatedly, allowing his tongue to stroke hers, causing the kiss to deepen instantly from sweet tenderness to tearing passion. Jed's hands moved under her sweater to run up and down the soft expanse of her back. He lifted the sweater higher and higher, breaking his kiss only when he pulled the sweater over her head. With the sweater gone, Abbey grabbed his jean clad rear, pressing his erection harder into her belly. 

"Abbey," he groaned against her mouth. 

"Mmmm," she murmured, her lips moving to the hollow of his throat while her hand moved to his groin, cupping him. She carefully began to work at his zipper and gently slipped her hand inside to stroke his satiny hardness. He pulsed and grew even harder under her ministrations. She lifted his sweater to press kisses over his belly, then slid down to her knees taking his jeans and boxers with her. Once he was free, she leaned forward and ran her tongue from the base of him to his tip. She continued to run her tongue down the length of him again and again, licking as if he were an ice cream cone. 

"Oh Christ Abbey," Jed moaned, leaning back against the deck rail. This was not what he had planned. He had wanted to pleasure her first, but he sure as hell wasn't going to stop her. He moved a hand down to tangle in her hair urging her to take him fully into her mouth, but she continued to torture him. She lapped him like a kitten and took just the tip of him between her lips, pressing her hands against his thighs when he tried to slide in. She flicked her tongue against the tip of him over and over. Holy mother of God, was she good at this, Jed thought gasping for air. Too good. That hot sweet mouth of hers was driving him insane. She could make him do what no one else could. Beg. And beg her for more he did, until she finally relented. She gently cupped his testicles in her hand and took him deeply into her mouth. Jed closed his eyes and groaned, giving himself over to the sensation of being engulfed in the warm wet depths of Abbey's mouth. When he re-opened them, he took in the erotic sight of his wife, on her knees in the moonlight, wearing only her jeans and the wispy camisole, her fiery hair spilling over her bare shoulders and his thighs while she was sliding him in and out of her mouth. She began to rake her fingernails lightly over his hips and thighs and he began to moan her name with more and more urgency, until, with a primitive deep groan of her name, he came. 

When it was over and he was trying to catch his breath, Abbey soothed him with kisses over his thighs until he lifted her chin. 

"Jesus, woman, that was incredible." 

"I take it I get the Presidential seal of approval," she flirted. 

"You're gonna get more than that," he said with a wicked grin as he began to pull his boxers back on. "But, let's go below deck to the bunks. Nobody but me is going to see the way you look when I make you scream for it." It took a moment for Jed's words to sink in, then Abbey looked at him with mortification. 

"Oh my God, the Secret Service," she cried, blushing furiously. "I completely forgot about them." 

"Abbey," he tried to calm her. 

"Don't Abbey me. I just gave you a blow job in front of over a dozen Secret Service agents. God, I'll never be able to face them. Why didn't you stop me?" 

"Darlin', when you take me in that sweet little mouth of yours I can't even remember my name, never mind the fact that we have agents watching us. Don't worry, if any of them at all was looking, it was probably only one. They do have jobs to do." 

"Can you possibly be that naive? If one was looking, they all were," she said sarcastically. "If the guy's gaping mouth didn't do it, then I'm sure him calling out hey the President is getting a blow job right on the deck would have brought them all over with their binoculars. They are mostly all men after all. You're all suckers for free porn." She realized that she was still standing there in her camisole and looked out toward the boats she couldn't see in the dark. "Let's go below deck," she took Jed's hand, tugging him along. 

"I'll follow you anywhere, Irish." 

**** 

Once below deck, in their bunk, Jed's hands were all over Abbey trying to remove her clothing. 

"How can you think about sex after what just happened?" She asked, still embarrassed. 

"I assure you I can, and so will you," he took her earlobe between his lips and nibbled with his teeth, while running his fingers over her belly at the waist band of her jeans. He knew these twin assaults would quell any protests. Before she knew what was happening, Jed had laid her back on the bed. Her camisole had already been discarded and tossed in the corner with his boxers. Then, while he continued to nuzzle her neck, he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. He cupped her warmth through the denim and smiled when she sighed and squirmed against his hand. She lifted her hips so he could slide her jeans down over her legs to join the rest of their clothing strewn about the room. 

Jed began to run his lips over her ribs to her stomach, pausing to dip his tongue into her belly button. It was his turn to torture her, and to accomplish that he began to trace his tongue along the edge of her lacy panties. Abbey parted her legs for him but he ignored what she wanted, instead, moving back up to nuzzle the underside of one breast. He knew better than to go near the nipple but soon, very soon they would be his again to tease, to arouse and to suckle. Abbey arched her back as he continued to lavish attention on her breasts. Jed stilled her by placing a hand on her stomach. That hand slipped lower under her panties to touch her intimately. She was wet to his touch and he knew just how much she wanted this. Abbey's thighs parted wider and she thrust up against his fingers. Jed took the hint this time and his lips and tongue worked on her belly while he removed her panties. He pushed her legs even further apart, rubbing his rough shaven cheek against her smooth inner thigh. Abbey moaned at the sensation. And, when his tongue replaced the stroke of his fingers, she cried out his name with a gasp, nearly arching off the bed. Jed got down to business alternating the use of his tongue and lips and when he began a soft suction, she raked her fingers through his hair. 

"Oh God...Oh God...Oh God..." she was whimpering now. her head thrashing on the pillow, her hips thrusting upward to Jed's mouth. 

"Hey," Jed said stopping. He rested his chin on her pubic bone, just below the tiny scar of Zoey's birth, and looked up at her. "I'm doing all the work here, not God. Of course, if you are promoting me, that's another story." 

"Shut up Jed," she groaned in frustration, "come on babe, don't stop." 

"That's better," he grinned and bent down to flick his tongue over her sensitized flesh, at the same time he slid a finger inside her. Abbey cried out and he felt her legs quivering, her belly tightening, her whimpers turning to urgent, deep, ragged moans. It was at that point that he stopped. 

"Jed...no baby," Abbey cried, "don't stop...I'm almost there." 

"I know," he gave a deep chuckle. That was exactly why he had stopped. He wanted to watch her come. Abbey gasped as Jed's fingers replaced his mouth, stroking with the same rhythm. Her fingers ran through her hair and gripped the pillow behind her and her breath came in short gasps as she arched and cried out Jed's name when she shattered in orgasm. It had been a long time since Jed had brought his wife such sublime pleasure and he took great satisfaction in watching her. He left his fingers on her for a few moments feeling the electrical pulses that continued to send shock waves through her body. 

Before Abbey could even finish coming down from her orgasm, Jed slid deep inside her. She cried out, gripping his shoulders, every nerve still stretched taut. She didn't think she could take much more of this agonizing pleasure, but instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, responding to him as he kissed her deeply and they had the erotic experience of tasting the other on their tongues. Soon she was caught up in the rhythm he was creating with his deepening thrusts, and it wasn't long before they were both heading over that cliff again, their gasps and moans and pleading cries filling the tiny bunk. 

Jed lay heavily on top of her. He was still inside her, his lips tenderly moving on her chest and neck, his hand stroking her cheek, as they both tried to regain their breath. Abbey liked the feeling of his weight pressing her into the bed. But too soon he looked up into her face. 

"I'm crushing you," he said and started to withdraw from her. 

"No," Abbey cried, "don't leave me yet." She wrapped her legs back around him to keep him exactly where he was. She didn't want to lose this feeling of being as close to him as humanly possible, not yet anyway. 

"Ok then," he said, but rolled on to his back so that she lay sprawled over him. Her long soft hair was fanned over his chest and shoulders and he buried his face in its sweet fragrance. He inhaled deeply the scent of Abbey, honeysuckle, lily of the valley, and sex. 

"I thought you might have cut this off," he said, twirling a long strand of hair on his finger. 

"Why?" she asked, kissing the tip of his chin. 

"Because you know how much I love your hair long." 

"So?" 

"So, don't play little miss innocent with me. I seem to recall a time that you got pissed at me not long after Elizabeth was born. Your hair was down to your ass and you cut it all off to spite me." 

"I thought you were going to cry," Abbey smiled at the memory. 

"It was a mean thing to do." 

"I was a still a child then. I am not child anymore." 

"No, you're not," he said admiringly, "you're all woman. God Abbey, I am so glad we got all this cleared up." 

"Jed," she laughed, "sex has never been one of our trouble areas." 

"I guess not," he admitted with a husky laugh. 

"Lord, I feel like a limp rag doll," she yawned, rubbing her cheek against his chest hair. 

"Me too." 

"I can assure you, you are not limp." 

"Won't be long now," Jed smiled against her forehead. 

"I don't want to go back. I want to stay here all night in your arms," she said sleepily. 

"We can steal a few more hours," he kissed the top of her head. "Go to sleep baby." 

"You'll wake me in an hour?" She asked, knowing his internal clock worked better than hers. 

"Oh yeah, you can count on it." 

Chapter 4: 

Jed awoke, reaching out for his wife, frowning when he found the spot next to him empty. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and saw that her clothes were still strewn about the room. Well, she might have been gone from his arms, but at least she was still not dressed, he mused. He slipped on his boxers and left the cabin to find Abbey. It didn't take long to locate her. She was seated at the table in the galley wearing only a t-shirt and her underwear. His t-shirt, to be more precise. He admired how it rose up over her hip exposing one long shapely leg. She was eating a bowl of chocolate mousse, her hair loose, curly and rumpled. He smiled wondering how someone could look so sexy, and yet, so utterly adorable in the same instant. 

"I thought I was supposed to wake you," he said, entering the room and kissing the top of her head. 

"I woke up hungry. I never did get to finish my supper." 

"Are you complaining?" 

"Not at all," she gave him the languid look of a cat who had just licked the cream. 

"Didn't think so. I know I've said this before, but I miss seeing you like this at the breakfast table," he said, accepting a bite of mousse from her spoon. 

"Somehow I don't think this is quite the appropriate attire for breakfast at the White House." 

"Maybe not," he agreed, "but I'm sure the stewards would love it. We'd get their votes for sure. Vote for Jed Bartlet," he boomed, "and get 4 more years of Abbey Bartlet half naked at the breakfast table." 

"Jed," she shook her head her with a half smile. "You know I really wish this boat had a shower." 

"You can shower back at the cottage." 

"I know...it's just...well, I don't want to meet back up with the service like this." 

"Like what?" He asked puzzled. 

"I smell of sex," she said slowly as if he were addle brained. 

"You smell of me," he said huskily and Abbey felt an erotic chill down her spine. 

"Yes, I do. And I'd appreciate the service not all knowing that." 

"We can clean up, you know. Let's go for a swim." 

"I didn't bring a suit." 

"Who needs suits?" He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively, causing Abbey to laugh. 

"I think the service got enough of a show earlier, Romeo. I'm not going skinny dipping." 

"You like going skinny dipping. Remember?" He said, seductively running a finger over her full bottom lip. 

"I remember," she swallowed, "but that was before I carried an entourage." 

"You're no fun," he grumbled, accepting another bite of mousse. "You know, we can swim in our underwear. Your panties and that silky top thing..." 

"The camisole," she supplied him with the term. 

"Yea, those are more modest than some of your suits." 

"Are you saying my suits are immodest?" 

"I am saying some of them are positively an invitation to sin and I love every last one." Abbey's very feminine laughter filled the night air. 

***** 

"How is it?" Abbey asked, looking down at her husband, who was treading water below her. 

"It's nice. Come on in." Abbey looked to her right and her left, then dropped her towel, and jumped in the water next to Jed. She surfaced with a loud shriek. 

"You son of a bitch! It's freezing!" She cried, splashing him. 

"That's what you get for making me jump in first. Come on Abbey, it's the North Atlantic, when have you ever known it to be nice?" 

"You have a vindictive streak in you, Josiah," she said, her teeth chattering. 

**** 

Meanwhile, on the Coast Guard cutter, the agent in charge of watching the 'Abigail Anne' was approached by several other agents who had heard Abbey's shriek. 

"What are they doing now, Brad?" One of them asked with a slight smirk. Abbey had not been far off the mark when it came to the agents flocking to see the First Lady in action. 

"They're swimming. In their underwear," the agent named Brad grinned at the others, thinking how lucky he was to have pulled this duty tonight. Hearing the laughter and splashing, the others all picked up their binoculars to look at the boat, hoping for some kind of encore performance. 

"Why are there six of you watching the boat?" Ron Butterfield asked sternly. "This is the second time I've had to break you all up tonight." 

"But sir, the First Lady is..." 

"I don't care what the First Lady is doing. Your jobs are to protect the President and First Lady, not play peeping toms into their private life. Now, I want all of you but Brad to get back to your posts. NOW." 

"Lucky bastard," the others grumbled walking away and Brad smiled, focusing his binoculars back on the schooner. As Ron went back to his commandeering post, it was all he could do not to lift his binoculars. After hearing Brad call out what was going on the deck of the boat earlier, he had instinctively focused his binoculars on that deck. Never would he look at Abigail Bartlet in the same manner. He'd always thought the President was a lucky man to have such a hot little wife, now he knew for a fact that he most certainly was. But, he was a also a professional, and he had been angry with himself for intruding on what should have been a private moment between husband and wife. He vowed to try to give them as much privacy he could within the realm of such heavy security. Damn, he'd been serving in the Secret Service through four Presidencies and he had never had any dilemmas like this before. Jed and Abbey Bartlet were definitely not the typical Presidential couple. 

**** 

Back in the cabin, Abbey stood in her dripping wet underwear, her wet hair slicked back, her nipples, hardened by the cold, straining against the silk camisole. 

"I'm freezing," she said, shivering. 

"Yeah you are," Jed grinned, moving to her with a towel. As he wrapped it around her body, his mouth moved to her neck, nuzzling and warming her blood. 

"Jed," she ran her fingers through his wet hair. "This is defeating the whole purpose of that frigid swim." 

"Fuck the Service," he said, his voice thickened by desire. 

"I'd rather fuck you," her eyes caught Jed's and he began to laugh. 

"That can definitely be arranged," he pulled her tightly against him. "Most definitely." 

***** 

It was just as Abbey had feared. As soon as she and Jed stepped off the boat, they were joined by the agents. There was nothing overt in their looks. There wasn't any snickering or smirking, but Abbey knew they had seen everything. It was in the way she saw one agent give Jed a pat on the back as he helped them off the boat. It was in the way the shy agents would look at the ground uncomfortably when she talked to them and the way the more bolder agents gazes lingered on her longer than usual. It was in the way their eyes moved almost imperceptibly up and down her body with frank admiration in their glances. She refused to squirm or blush in their presence. She hadn't done anything wrong. Instead, she met their eyes boldly with cool glances of her own, until they were the ones to look down at the ground, embarrassed at the way they had invaded her privacy. 

Abbey turned from them, took the hand Jed offered her and walked away with her back ramrod straight, her head held high. It was that defiant gesture that made the agents admire her even more. 

**** 

Back at the cottage Abbey peeked into Zoey's room to see her daughter sleeping soundly. 

"We're home," she said softly and kissed her forehead. 

"Mmmm, hi Mom," Zoey murmured sleepily, "did you have fun?" 

"I did. Go back to sleep sweetheart," she pushed the hair off Zoey's face and watched her daughter curl back up under the blankets. She unplugged the baby monitor and took it from Zoey's nightstand. 

Jed finished locking the cottage and found Abbey rearranging blankets over Aislinn and Nicholas. He joined her, placing his arm around her waist, and they both watched their offspring sleeping sweetly. Aislinn was hogging the crib as usual, arms and legs stretched out, her little mouth pursing as she comforted herself with little sucking motions. Nicholas was also predictably sucking his little fist. The pacifier Zoey had given him had been thrown by his feet. Abbey leaned over, removing Aislinn's arm from Nicholas' chest. The baby girl gave a little whimper and blinked her big gray eyes sleepily at her parents. Then, with a sigh, she went back to sleep. 

"I'm glad you fired Hattie," Jed whispered, "or we'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble right now." Abbey smiled at him and, after a few more moments, they left the twins to sleep and went to their own room. Abbey plugged the monitor in the wall by their bed and started to undress. She was taking off her earrings when she saw Jed lifting the receiver of the phone. 

"Jed, who are you calling at this hour?" She asked. 

"Leo. I told him I was dropping out of the race. I need to tell him that scenario is off." 

"It's almost 2 in the morning." 

"Your point?" 

"My point is that it is a little late for a phone call. He might be a tad pissed to be woken up for news that could wait until tomorrow." 

"Abbey, this is Leo. He is still awake and brooding over my decision. I can almost guarantee it. Remember, he gave up everything for his job." Abbey thought again of poor Jenny. 

"You're probably right," she said, watching him punch Leo's number in the phone. 

"Hello," Leo answered. 

"Hi Leo. I didn't wake you, did I?" 

"Mr. President. Do you know what time it is?" 

"I believe my wife just told me it is about 2 a.m. I told her you would still be awake." 

"Just barely. What's wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong, Leo. Does something have to be wrong for me to call one of my oldest friends in world?" 

"You talked to Abbey, didn't you?" Leo sighed. 

"Yup. We went on a wonderful, romantic, moonlight sail and we did a lot of talking." 

"Did you talk about..." 

"Yes, Leo. I gave Abbey my Presidency," he said, placing an arm around Abbey's waist and pulling her close. 

"And...?" 

"And she gave it back to me," he stroked her cheek, tears filling his eyes. Abbey swallowed past the lump in her throat, pressing her forehead into Jed's chest. Leo was stunned into silence for a few moments on the other end. 

"Wow," he said finally, "I didn't expect this. That is one incredible lady you have there, Jed." 

"You aren't telling me anything I don't know," he said, stroking Abbey's silken hair. "Well, I'll let you go. Get some sleep, Leo." 

"Yes, sir. Oh, by the way, tell Abbey thank you. From me and the staff." 

"I'll do that." 

**** 

Jed slept later than he had planned and Abbey was already up and gone. She was in the kitchen spooning baby cereal into Nicholas' mouth, while Aislinn was tucked in her arm nursing. 

"You look like you could use a little help," he said, "what do you want me to do?" 

"Could you clean Nicky up so I can finish feeding Aislinn?" she asked, slipping a finger in her daughter's mouth to break her suction so she could place her in her baby seat for her turn with the baby cereal. 

"Sure," Jed said, grinning down at his tiny son, who had baby cereal smeared across his cheeks and chin and on the small fist he was sucking on. "You sure did make a mess buddy," he said, lifting him into his arms. "Don't you know, young man, that the food is supposed to go in your mouth, not all over your face?" 

"Nicky, you just tell your daddy it's only your second meal of solid food and you are doing just fine, aren't you sweet boy," she kissed the top of his head as Jed approached her to watch Aislinn. He chuckled as his daughter allowed the cereal to dribble down her lip so that Abbey had to scoop it off her chin and back into her mouth. 

"Don't worry, bud. Your sister doesn't have any better table manners than you." 

Nicholas, always intrigued by his father's deep voice, regarded him with wide eyes. Father and son's identical blue gazes locked. After a moment, Nicholas reached his hands up to touch his father's face. 

"Abbey," Jed groaned, "look what your son just did to me." Abbey glanced at him and laughed. Nicholas had smeared sticky baby cereal over Jed's cheeks and lips. 

"So, he's my son, is he?" 

"MY son would never treat his father with such disrespect. Would he?" Jed teased, tickling the baby under his chin and getting a squirm and a toothless smile in response. "Boy, this stuff still tastes like paste," he said, licking the cereal off his lips. 

"What did you expect? You know it has to be bland for their stomachs." 

"Well, I'm looking forward to fruits." 

"If I remember correctly, your favorites were plum and tutti frutti," she smiled. "Now, if I could only get you to eat green beans." 

"Never! So, darlin', are you going to clean me up?" he asked, nudging her arm. 

"You're a big boy now Jed, I think you can handle it. If you would get your butt moving and clean Nicky up, you wouldn't have this problem." 

"We're going, we're going. Boy Nicholas, your mom is awfully bossy," he turned to walk toward the sink and Abbey whipped him on the rear with the burping rag she had been wearing over her shoulder. 

"What's all this?" Jed asked, seeing a picnic hamper on the counter by the sink. 

"I thought we'd spend the day on the beach and have a picnic." 

"Alone?" 

"Us and two babies. Don't forget, I fired the nanny." 

"Guess that means breaking out the baby tent. Do we even still have it in the shed?" 

"We got a new one at my baby shower. It's on the porch, I've been using it." 

"Ok, but don't forget, I told Zoey that I'd play tennis with her later this afternoon. Have you heard from Liz? When is she bringing Annie over?" 

"Her friend Isabelle is bringing her in a couple days, then Liz and Jay will join us next week. Liz wants me to interview Isabelle for the nanny position. She was Annie's preschool teacher and, from what I hear, all the kids adored her. She has a master's in child psych and is certified in CPR." 

"Well, if she has Liz and Annie's seal of approval I'm sure she'll be great. I promised Annie a few rounds of mini golf, and Zoey and I want to repaint the 'Zellie' before Ellie gets here. I want to surprise her. She has been working so hard in school." 

"Med school is a bitch," Abbey sighed, watching her daughter place her sticky hands in her wispy blond hair. "But, Jed, please remember this is a VACATION. Try to relax." 

"Like I said," Jed smiled conspiratorily at his son, running a cloth over his face, "bossy." 

Chapter 5: 

Jed finished setting up the baby tent on the beach, then settled Nicholas and Aislinn in to sleep, shielded from the sun. He lay beside them rubbing their little backs and humming to them until both fell asleep. Once he was sure they were asleep, he turned to throw away the dirty diapers he had just changed, and began to put the baby wipes and powder back in the diaper bag, all the while chatting away to Abbey. When he didn't get a response, he turned to see her laying back on her beach chair, dark sunglasses covering her eyes. The book she had been reading was dangling from her hand. She had obviously already fallen asleep. Well, she had had a long night, he mused, smiling tenderly at her. No wonder she was worn out. He gently took the book from her hand, marked her spot, and set it in her beach bag. 

"Hey Dad," Zoey yelled from the water's edge, "want to come for a swim with me?" 

"Be right there," he called back. Abbey stirred at the sound of their voices. She stretched out languidly and slipped her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to look at Jed. 

"What are you looking at?" She asked. 

"You. Want me to put some more sunscreen on you?" 

"No. You just put some on me about a half an hour ago. I don't think it's worn off yet," she said sarcastically. 

"You used to sunbathe topless," he said in a slightly accusing tone, as if she were deliberately keeping something from him. 

"Behind the hedges in the yard," she laughed. 

"But you hate strap marks." 

"I'll survive." 

"Dad, are you coming?" Zoey called out, hands on her hips. 

"You better go," Abbey smiled, slipping her glasses back up her nose. 

"Yeah," he sighed. 

As soon as Jed turned toward the water, Abbey untied her top, tucking the strings into the cups and laid back to listen to her husband and daughter laughing and shrieking in the water. Just as the heat of the sun began to lull her back to sleep, she heard the two of them approaching. She felt cold drops of water on her thigh and slipped her sunglasses back down to see Jed standing before her, soaking wet. Before she could speak, he began to shake like a big shaggy dog. The icy drops pelted her warm body. 

"Jesus, Jed!" she gasped, jumping up, which caused her top to fall. She caught it just before she was completely exposed. "You did that on purpose," she accused, eyes narrowed. 

"Guilty," he grinned, pulling her warm body up against his freezing one. 

"Jed, you're all wet and you're freezing cold," she breathed, pushing against his chest to escape his embrace. She looked at him standing in front of her with wet messy hair and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and couldn't help but give a tolerant smile. 

"Sometimes you can be so juvenile," she said as she began to towel herself off. 

"That's the part of me you find charming." 

"Try annoying," she tweaked his nose like she would a little boy. "You two getting hungry?" She turned to look at Zoey, who was peeking in on the babies. 

"Actually I'm having lunch with some friends. But, I'll be back later in plenty of time to whip Dad's butt in a round of tennis," she punched Jed lightly on the arm. 

"You're getting awfully cheeky young lady," Jed grumbled. "Remember who you are speaking to." 

"I do," Zoey grinned, "my Dad." She kissed both her parents on the cheek and headed back to the cottage. 

"Looks like it's just us," Abbey said, moving toward the picnic hamper. 

"However will we manage?" Jed asked, plopping down on the beach chair. He sat back watching Abbey take the food out. He should have been admiring her lithe body in the Hawaiian print navy blue bikini. Her long slender legs, curvy hips, small waist, and great breasts. But instead, he was troubled by how quickly she had regained her figure. It had only been about 6 months since she had given birth. She should not be this slender already. He knew she had been working at it. But, he also knew it had a lot to do with the fact that she had not been sleeping or eating well for a couple months now. He had done this to her, he realized, and that familiar pang of guilt squeezed his heart. 

"Want something to drink while I get the sandwiches out?" she asked, oblivious to his perusal. 

"Yeah, throw me over a Heinekin" 

"Shame on you, Josiah. A GERMAN beer. You could get into a lot of trouble with the media for that one," she tossed him the beer. 

"Only if you rat me out," he said, twisting the top and taking a long swig. 

Abbey set out the sandwiches, potato salad, and fudge brownies. 

"Mmmm, fudge brownies," Jed rubbed his hands together in anticipation. 

"You can thank your daughter for those. I packed fruit salad." 

"Thank God for daughters," he put his hands together and looked heavenward. "Speaking of God, I forgot to ask what happened to Tom. I didn't scare him away, did I? 

"No," Abbey laughed, sipping her lemonade. "He was leaving yesterday anyway. Actually, he was on his way north to visit his brother and just stopped by to see your mother. I invited him to stay over. That poor man. You must have taken years off his life the way you came barreling into the bathroom like that." 

"Actually he said he was flattered that I could think an old man like him was getting it on with you." 

"Really, Jed. I mean, don't you think if I was going to take a lover I'd pick some young stud?" She teased. 

"No young stud would know how to make your body sing the way a man of experience like myself can." 

"Well, I guess experience does have its merits," she admitted. 

"Besides," he stretched out beside her running a finger over the curve of her hip, "if any young stud came sniffing around you, he wouldn't live to see his old age." 

"Tough guy, are you?" She ran a hand over his jaw. 

"You know it." Just as his lips descended on hers, they heard whimpers coming from the baby tent. 

"Ignore it," Jed said, nibbling on her bottom lip. "They'll go back to sleep." 

"I don't think so," she said against his mouth. "They're both probably hungry." 

"Trust me," he ran a finger over her jaw. But, as he began to deepen his kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth, the whimpers turned to all out crying. 

"Trust you, huh," Abbey sighed, pressing her lips to his chin. 

"Foiled by my own offspring," he groaned, letting his arms drop as Abbey got to her feet to go to the babies. He watched the material of her bikini bottom slide down as she bent to lift Aislinn, and it afforded him a flash of the tattoo that never failed to fill him with a possessive wave of desire. He shifted uncomfortably as Abbey passed Aislinn over to him. 

*** 

Later, after a long walk on the beach with his wife and their babies, and playing a couple sets of tennis with Zoey, Jed lay back on the wicker couch on the porch. He listened to the surf and the cries of the gulls that mingled with the windchimes by his head. It was nice to just be alone in the peace and quiet. He always seemed to be surrounded by people at the White House, whether it was staff or security. But, here, it was nice to just be able to take a nap on the porch without fear of interruptions. 

Abbey found him there a couple hours later snoring softly. She got down on her knees by his head, smiling gently at him. His tawny eyelashes lay against his cheeks and he looked so relaxed and young. The world weary and sometimes haunted look being President caused him to have was gone in his peaceful slumber. 

"Josiah," she whispered, smoothing the hair back from his forehead. "Jed honey, wake up." 

"Mmmm...tell 'em to go away. Abbey," he murmured sleepily. 

"No one is here. Jed," she ran her fingers over his brow. "Supper is ready." Jed opened those tawny lashes revealing his sleepy blue eyes. 

"Mmm...what?" 

"Supper is ready," she kissed his forehead. 

"Oh," he stretched out with a yawn. "God, I can't remember the last time I was able to take a nap during the day." 

"That is what a vacation is for, Jed. Rest and relaxation and I want you doing more of it." 

"Yes, Mrs. Bartlet." 

"That's Dr. Bartlet to you, handsome." 

**** 

There were whispers throughout the dining area of the Lighthouse Inn as the President and First Lady left the private room where they had been dining. They stood on the steps outside thanking the staff for their hospitality and Jed couldn't help but remark on how pretty Abbey looked in the moonlight. The deep pervading sadness was gone and had been replaced by the radiance of a woman who had re- discovered something that she thought she had lost. Her hair was pulled back in a clip and fell straight down over her bare tanned shoulders and down her back. She wore a long white linen skirt that had a long slit up to her thigh, and a turquois silk spaghetti strapped halter-blouse that left her back bare. As he placed his hand on her back to lead her to the edge of the sand,Jed wondered just what it was about a woman's bare back that was so sensual and somehow fragile and vulnerable. 

"We've decided to walk home along the beach," he said to the agents, who nodded in response, ready to follow them at a distance. He then held Abbey's elbow while she took off her high heeled strappy sandals so she could walk barefoot through the sand. They held hands as they walked towards the water's edge and turned to head towards the cottage. 

"What a gorgeous night," Abbey sighed laying her head on Jed's shoulder. "Just look at all the stars." 

"It is a nice night," Jed agreed, wrapping his arm around her waist. "We don't seem to get enough time for just the two of us, and for us just to be a normal family again. Of all the things I miss from being President Abbey, that is what I miss most of all." 

"That's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. I know I agreed to your running again, but, we're really doing to have to make some changes in your next term." 

"Next term. I like the sound of that," he grinned down at her, "I like your confidence." 

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that you will win re-election. You never lose at anything you put your mind to. But, as I was saying, I want this family time for Nicky and Aislinn. I want them to have as normal a childhood as possible. Life on a farm, not the White House." 

Jed dropped her hand and stepped back as if she had slapped him across the face. 

"Jed...what's wrong?" She asked, concern furrowing her brow. 

"You're going to live with them at the farm, not at the White House?" He said stunned, knowing all the while that was completely unacceptable. He couldn't live away from his family. 

"Jed, sometimes I don't know how your mind works," she said, shaking her head, "of course I'm not going to live in New Hampshire while you are in the White House. Do you think I would keep the children away from you? Do you think I could live away from you?" She ran her fingers gently over his rough cheek. 

"I don't know Abbey. I guess these last couple of months scared me more than I thought. When I think that you could have stopped loving me, I..." 

"Sssh...I never stopped loving you, you big idiot," she smiled tenderly, with the moonlight shining in her beautiful sea colored eyes. "Other than my father, you are the only man I have ever loved. I may have stopped trusting you briefly, but I'll never stop loving you," she kissed him lightly on the mouth, then ran her thumb over his lips to wipe away her lipstick. 

"So, what exactly did you mean by changes then?" He slipped his arm back around her waist. 

"I want Nicky and Aislinn to have as much freedom to be regular kids as possible. I was reading a book about the history of the White House a few weeks back and did you know that several Presidents did not even live in the White House? I know that isn't feasible for us in this day and age, but also, many Presidents rented other homes to get away to. Townhouses in Georgetown and farms in Virginia. Jack and Jackie rented a farm in Virginia so their kids could have that freedom and normalcy. I think we should do it." 

"Rent a farm? We already have a farm." 

"But we can't fly up to New Hampshire for quick weekends. We'd still go home for holidays and vacations but, this way, I can take them for walks without people prying through the gates. They can run around outside the stuffiness of the White House. They can ride ponies and have family meals not served to them by stewards. They can have time with Daddy away from all the staff coming and going. You'd also be close enough to get back to the White House quickly if you were needed." 

"Got this all worked out, have you?" He asked, smiling down into her animated face. 

"I have. I want these kids to have some of the same experiences Elizabeth, Ellie, and Zoey had. Of course it won't be exactly the same. They are still the President's kids and will be spending the majority of their time in the White House. They will have experiences no other child will have, but they will be six years old when your term is over and I don't want them to lose out on six years of being a normal child." 

"I want them to have that too, Abbey. I have always wanted this to be a positive experience for all my children, not a negative one. Anything else on the agenda?" 

"Well, since you asked, we're going to have to find something for me to do." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean this past year being pregnant and having the babies has been great. I have loved being a part time First Lady and full time Mom. It's been wonderful not having the pressure of having to get back to work, but it is getting to be time. I've always worked, Jed." 

"I know that. I don't expect you to just be a full time mother and First Lady, if you want more." 

"As soon as I wean the babies in a month or two, I want to get back to work. Obviously I can't travel abroad as much, so I'll need to have something to work on here. Something important. You aren't the only one who wants to make a difference." 

"We'll look into it," he promised. "You're a terrific First Lady, Abbey. Most of the women in America follow your every word. Abigail Bartlet says to immunize your child, they immunize their child, Abigail Bartlet breast feeds her baby, they breast feed their babies, and I won't even go into how they mimic your hairstyles," he tugged a strand of her hair, which caused her to smile. "But, seriously Abbey, you are a very important resource in this administration and we should be using you as much here as we have abroad. So, there are two problems solved, anything else to hit me with?" 

"No, I think that's all for tonight." 

"Good, because I just want some time to walk with my girl under the moon and stars." Abbey leaned against him, her arm around his waist as they walked under the romantic night sky. She gave herself up to the sensuality of the evening. The cool sand between her toes, the balmy night air licking her bare skin, and the feeling of Jed's arm holding her close around her waist, his hand under her blouse to rest warmly against her midriff. For this one night all was right with the world. 

Chapter 6: 

Abbey, Jed, and the twins lay sprawled on a worn quilt under the shade of an old pine tree. Abbey was sitting back against the trunk with Jed's head in her lap. She was absently running her fingers through his hair while he slept and she read. Nicholas and Aislinn, both wearing only their diapers, lay on their backs gurgling and cooing as they kicked at the mobile of Sesame Street characters Abbey had placed over them. Abbey was just taking a sip of her iced tea when Jed gave a startled yelp and sat up. 

"Abbey, that hurt," he grumbled, rubbing his armpit. 

"What?" She asked. "Did you get stung or something? Let me see." 

"Don't play all innocent with me, lady. I know you like to wake me up by tickling under my arm, but pulling the hair hurt." 

"Jed, I can assure you that I did not pull the hair under your arm." 

"Than what..." he looked down and saw his daughter had inched over on the blanket and had curled up next to him. "I think I found the culprit." He opened a tiny fist to reveal a few strands of hair. 

"Well, she knows how to get her daddy's attention when she wants it," Abbey laughed. 

"Think that's funny, do you?" He asked with a devilish glint in his eye. Before Abbey knew what was happening, he had pounced on her and was hitting all her ticklish spots. He knew them all very well. Abbey began to giggle helplessly, while pushing at his chest to get him off her. 

"Jed enough!" She cried, "I said uncle...stop...please!" 

"Say pretty please, you big handsome stud..." 

"P...pretty...pl...please...oh...just stop!" 

The couple was too wrapped up in their laughter to hear the car approach or the doors shut as the woman and the young girl got out. 

"Those," Annie pointed, shaking her head the way teenagers loved to do, "are my grandparents. You'll have to get used to it. They're always all over each other." 

At that moment Jed spotted them and stopped tickling Abbey. 

"Anabeth!!" He shouted, getting to his feet. 

"Gramps!" Annie shouted back, and ran with a big grin into his arms. She wrapped her gangly legs around his waist and Jed whirled her around. 

"I've missed you, Tinkerbell," he said, setting her down and giving her long ponytail a tug. 

"Grams," Annie said exasperated, "PLEASE tell your husband that I am 13 years old. I am too old to be called Tinkerbell for heaven's sake." 

"Jed," Abbey said, while kissing Annie's cheek, "Annie is 13. She is too old to be called Tinkerbell, for heaven's sake." 

"I heard, I heard. But, I don't care if you are 13 or 30, you will always be my Tinkerbell just like your mother is my princess, your Aunt Ellie is my kitten, and your Aunt Zoey is my munchkin." 

"And what is Aislinn then?" Annie asked, thinking she had stumped him because the baby was too young to have developed a nickname. 

"Aislinn is my sunshine because she and her brother were one of the few bright spots in a dismal year. Now, let's quit this jabbering and you can introduce us to your friend and then get settled in your room." 

Annie made the introductions to Izzy, who turned out to be the opposite of Hattie. She was younger, slightly plump, and seemed to have a great sense of humor. She had never been a nanny, so she didn't have any preconceived notions of what the job would entail. She was also willing to give the job a trial run. In short, she seemed perfect. 

**** 

Back at the house, Jed and Abbey put the twins down for nap, while Annie unpacked in the room she would be sharing with Zoey. As they walked down the hall, the door to the bedroom was half opened and Abbey peeked in to see how Annie was progressing. She smiled tenderly as she watched her granddaughter stretch her shirt down tightly and arch her back, as she peered at herself in the mirror above the bureau, then let out a sigh of disgust. How many times had she made that same motion? How many times had her daughters shared that same despair? Her heart ached with the memory of just what it meant to be 13 years old. No longer a child, and yet certainly not yet a woman. Living in a body that was now filled with angst and hormones, a body that you were forever displeased with. 

"You go on," she whispered to Jed. "We'll join you in a little bit." 

Annie's head snapped as she heard the door click. 

"Didn't mean to disturb you," Abbey said, "I just wanted to see if you needed any help unpacking." 

"I'm all unpacked." 

"That's a pretty bathing suit," she pointed to a neon green two-piece. 

"Yeah, Mom bought it. A lot of good it's going to do me. It's not like I'll fill it out. I'm as flat as a board," she sulked. 

"Honey, you're not as flat as a board," Abbey smiled, brushing Annie's hair back from her face. She was such a pretty combination of Bartlet/O'Neill. She had Jed's Bartlet baby blues, and the fiery hair of Abbey and her daughters, only hers was a lighter strawberry blond. She also shared the O'Neill freckles, which were sprinkled liberally on her nose, giving her an impish quality. The slight cleft in her chin came from an unknown source Abbey didn't like to think about. The mystery creep who was Annie's biological father. 

"I might as well be for what I have," she grumbled. "Do you think my boobs are ever going to grow?" She looked at Abbey with the despair only a 13 year old girl could have. 

"I don't think they are going to grow, I know they will. In fact," she surveyed Annie seriously, "I'm already seeing some growth from the last time I saw you at the christening. You know, I used to ask your Gramma Beth the same thing when I was your age." 

"YOU," Annie asked with wide eyes, "But you...you..." 

"I what?" 

"You've got big ones." 

"Well, I didn't at 13," Abbey laughed. "We O'Neill women are late bloomers." 

"That's what Mom said. But I thought she was just trying to make me feel better." 

"Moms are like that, aren't they? But just look at me, your mother and your aunts. Give it a couple years and those O'Neill genes will kick in and you won't have any problem filling out a bikini top. Now, no more moping around. Your grandfather is setting up the Monopoly board on the porch and he is under some bizarre notion that he is going to win, simply because he has a Nobel Prize in economics. Let's go whip that Nobel Laureate's butt." 

"You're on," Annie grinned. 

***** 

"That is against the rules," Jed said as Abbey handed all her properties and money over to Annie. 

"You bankrupted me and refused to make any deals. What did you expect me to do?" 

"It's business, beautiful. I can't make exceptions just because you bat those pretty green eyes at me, and don't think I didn't notice that." 

"Hard ass," Abbey grumbled and Annie began to giggle. 

"I'm paying off Gram's debts," she said, handing Jed the money. "And now I own all four railroads, Broadway, AND Park Place. Your butt is mine, Gramps." 

"Hey, can I get a little respect in my own home?" 

"That's what you get for being a hard ass," Abbey said, getting to her feet and winking at Annie. Jed swatted Abbey's rear as she passed him on her way to start dinner in the kitchen. 

A little while later while she was chopping celery to go in the salad, Abbey heard Jed groan loudly in defeat and Annie whoop in victory. Abbey smiled, wiping her hands on her apron and moved to answer the ringing phone. 

"Annie," she called out, "It's your mother." 

Annie came racing in from the porch, all youthful exuberance. 

"I whipped Gramps for us," she said, taking the phone from Abbey. 

"I heard," Abbey said, giving her a high five. "Girls rule..." 

"And boys drool," Annie finished. Abbey ruffled her hair and headed back to finish the salad. 

*** 

When Annie came back into the kitchen, a scowl had replaced her smile. 

"Sometimes I wish you were my mom," she sighed. 

"Did you and your mother have a fight?" 

"She treats me like I'm a baby. I want to get a tattoo and she said no. I told her that if you were my mother, you would let me." 

"Why would you think that?" Abbey asked, puzzled. 

"Because you have one." 

"How did you..." 

"We've changed our clothes together. I've known about it for awhile." 

"You never asked about it." 

"I thought maybe it was supposed to be a secret, because it's pretty hidden." 

"It's not a secret honey, but it is personal. Something between your grandfather and I. And I was an adult when I got it. When you are 13, everything seems like a good idea, but this is something that would be on your body permanently. What you like now, you might despise at 25 or 35." 

"Now you sound like my mother," Annie pouted. "She told me when I'm 18 I can make the choices of what to do with my body, but until then, she and Dad make the decisions." 

"That's the same thing I told Zoey 5 years ago when she wanted to get her tongue pierced. Your grandfather and I told her she could do what she wanted when she turned 18. And you know what? By the time she turned 18, she thought they were gross and didn't do it." 

"Well, I think it's cool that you have a tattoo." 

"Thanks," Abbey said, kissing her cheek, "now go wash up for dinner." Abbey smiled watching Annie race up the stairs to the bathroom, then sat down, her mind going back to the day she had gotten the tattoo. 

It was time for hers and Jed's college reunion. They returned to French Lick every year for a long weekend of get togethers with their old friends, and of course, the big Saturday football game. That year Abbey had gone early for a get together with just her and her girlfriends and Jed was to join her later. He had been contemplating a run for Governor and, therefore, was very busy. 

(A Bar in French Lick, Indiana) 

Abbey approached the table that held four of her closest friends from college, Millie, Jenny, Liza, and Susan. 

"Abbey!" They cried, jumping to their feet to hug her. 

"Look at you," Jenny said, eyeing her in the loose fitting leather pants, silk blouse, and high heels, looking completely chic and stylish. "You look incredible." 

"How are you doing?" Millie asked, knowing what an awful year this had been for her. Only the immediate family had gone to the service at the funeral parlor, but Millie had visited the farm soon after. She had seen the tiny box with the teddy bear on the front that held Jed and Abbey's son's ashes. She had seen the certificate that had his name, birthweight, and length. 14 ounces and 9 inches long, was all he had been, much too small to survive. But, what had broken her heart, was the miniscule little ink feet stamped on the paper. The only tangible proof that Peter Bartlet had ever existed. 

"I'm doing OK," Abbey smiled, kissing Millie on the cheek. "What are we drinking, ladies?" 

"Margaritas," Liza said, lifting her glass in salute. 

"Well, OK then. I'll take one of those," she said to the waitress. 

*** 

A few hours and a few margaritas later, Abbey was getting depressed, listening to her friends discuss their marriages or rather, for some of them, the dissolution of their marriages. 

"I found some other woman named Tiffany's phone number right in our night stand by the bed," Millie said. "The bastard was calling her right from our BED." 

"I can top that," Susan said. "I found a used condom IN our bed. We weren't using condoms. Tim was actually screwing her in OUR bed with pictures of OUR kids right beside him. I mean really, what a slap in the face. It was bad enough to do it, but to do it right in the bed he shared with me was just too much." 

A feeling of nausea overtook Abbey at the thought of that scenario. Of what she would do if confronted by the evidence of Jed and another woman, in their bed or another. 

"I don't know how you can talk about it so nonchalantly," she said. "God, that would just DESTROY me." 

"It did, but I've had a year to get used to it. It wasn't so easy in the beginning. You and Jed are still going strong though, aren't you? Zoey is what, starting preschool now?" 

"Kindergarten." 

"And what about you, Jenny? How are things with you and Leo?" 

"Things are going OK," Jenny said tightly, taking a sip of her margarita. Abbey gave her a sympathetic look. Only she knew about Leo's alcoholism. About the nights when Jed stayed in DC and had to drag him home drunk and reeking of other women. Jenny was in her own private hell. 

"Hey, you want to dance?" a man placed his hand on Abbey's shoulder. 

"Oh...uh...no, I..." 

"Go...go," her friends urged her. 

"Oh all right," Abbey said, actually relieved to get away from all the talk of divorce and wayward husbands. While she danced with the man she knew only as Gary, she thought about her marriage. How she and Jed had kept it together, when so many others couldn't. The last few years had not been easy ones. First there had been Zoey's premature birth, then 2 years later, she had been raped and they had had to deal with the aftermath of that for several dark months. Then, Jed had been elected to Congress and there were the absolutely wrenching weekday separations when Congress was in session. And, most recently, earlier in the year, they had lost their son. They were still dealing with that loss. There had been so many pitfalls, so many times they could have fallen, or shut each other out, but instead, they had drawn strength from each other, comforted each other, and reached for each other with love, which had only served to tighten an already incredibly close bond. Her depression lifted, as she was filled with pride that she and Jed had made it this far and that they still loved each other as deeply, if not more deeply, than the day they wed. 

"Wanna come have a drink with me?" Gary asked, running a hand over her leather clad rear. 

"Sorry," Abbey said, flashing her diamond at him with a bright smile, "but I'm married." 

"Doesn't mean we can't have a little fun." 

"Yeah. It does." 

"Abbey," Millie said, as she approached the table. "We decided we're all going to get tattoos to commemorate our new lives. Want to come?" 

"Sure. I may not be starting a new life, but I can commemorate my old one," she said and tossed back the tequila shot that had been placed in front of her. "Let's go before the alcohol wears off and I chicken out." 

"You're not really going to get a tattoo, are you?" Jenny asked. 

"I'm thinking about it." 

"Well, I'm not going to do it." 

"Oh, come on Jen, don't be such an old stick in the mud. Just come see what they have, you might find something you like." 

**** 

Abbey may have been tipsy, but she had enough presence of mind to tell the tattoo artist she needed it to be small and hidden, after all, she was a Congressman's wife. It wouldn't do to have one that could be exposed by the low cut, backless, high slit, evening gowns she favored. In the end she chose to get it on the back of her hip, down low, where nobody but Jed or her doctor would ever see it. 

"Jed is going to love this," Millie grinned, holding Abbey's hand while she bit her lip against the pain of the needle. 

**** 

The phone in her hotel room was ringing when Abbey entered and she picked up the receiver. 

"Hello," she said. 

"Hey babe. How was your night out with the girls?" 

"It was fun. Do you miss me?" 

"You know I do." 

"I miss you too. You're a good husband, Jed," her words were slightly slurred. 

"You're drunk, aren't you?" 

"I do not get DRUNK, Jed," she said indignantly. 

"Sorry, tipsy," he grinned. 

"Maybe a little," she admitted. 

"So what did you gals do tonight?" 

"We danced." 

"You danced with the girls?" 

"No, I danced with a man," she laughed. 

"You went out dancing with another man?" The amusement in his voice was gone, replaced by icy hardness. 

"Just one. Don't worry, when he grabbed my ass, I told him I was married." 

"Abigail, Goddammit." 

"Don't take the Lord's name in vain, Josiah." 

"We'll talk about this again when you aren't drunk." 

"Tipsy," she insisted. " Are you still coming Friday?" 

"Yes." 

"Good, I'm lonely here tonight. When you come, will you show me what French Lick really stands for?" 

"Ahhh Christ Abbey, you had to go and do it, didn't you?" 

"What?" 

"I knew if I called you, I'd end up with a hard on." 

"I can't help it that you're quick to the trigger. Now tell me, will you?" Abbey asked seductively. 

"Give you a French lick?" 

"Mmmmm." 

"You can count on it." 

"I have a surprise for you." 

"What is it?" 

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, naughty boy. Nope, you have to wait patiently...Bye bye professor." 

"Abbey...Abbey," Jed looked at the silent receiver and then ruefully at the bulge in his pants. He sighed and moved to the bathroom where he turned the knobs for a cold shower, trying not to think of his wife and the French licks he would be giving her as soon as he got to Indiana. 

***** 

Abbey awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. She groaned, placing her arm over her eyes and rolled onto her back. Something felt sore on the back of her hip and she reached her hand back to find out why. Her hand encountered a bandage and her face flushed with the memory of what she had done. She had gotten an honest to God tattoo last night. What in the hell was she thinking? She was a respectable mother and surgeon, a Congressman's wife, and now she had a tattoo almost on her ass. What, in all that was holy, was her husband going to think about that? 

She didn't have long to wait to find out. That night, as she and the girls were leaving for another evening out, Jed came striding up the hotel hallway eyeing his wife in her red leather skirt, black blouse, and red 3 inch heels that made her legs look a mile long. Christ almighty, she was one sexy woman. 

"I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow?" Abbey said. 

"I decided to come early. You sounded awfully lonely last night," and randy, he thought. 

"Jed honey, come join us for dinner," Jenny said. 

"I'd love to escort all you lovely ladies to dinner," Jed said gallantly, when all he really wanted to do was push Abbey back into her room and give her that French lick she had been asking for. 

Jed entertained the women throughout dinner with his stories about certain pompous congressmen and senators they couldn't stand, then, finally when dinner was over, he led Abbey to the dance floor. He'd been wanting to get his hands on her in that sexy get up all night. 

"God, are you hot in leather," he breathed. 

"Like it, do you?" 

"You know I do. So, what's my surprise?" he asked, nibbling on her ear. 

"What surprise?" 

"Last night you told me you had a surprise for me." 

"I...I can't remember. Jed, stop that." 

"Why? Am I getting you all hot and bothered?" He nipped her earlobe with his teeth, then soothed the bite with his tongue. Abbey felt the stirring deep in her loins. Then, as Jed dug his fingers into her lower back, she gasped in pain. 

"What is it, Abbey?" He asked, concerned. 

"Nothing, I'm ok." 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so rough." 

"You weren't. It's ok." 

When the dance finished, Abbey excused herself to go to the ladies room to check the bandage she thought for sure Jed had moved. Jed knew something was not right with his wife and followed her to the bathroom. When he was sure no one else was inside but Abbey, he walked in and locked the door behind him. Abbey stood in front of the mirror, the back of her skirt unzipped, and she was looking back over her shoulder, examining a bandage on the back of her hip. 

"Abbey, you're hurt. What did you do to yourself?" 

"Nothing, I'm ok Jed, really." 

"No, you're not. Let me see." Abbey took a deep breath knowing the moment was inevitable. She felt him loosen the adhesive and look under the bandage. 

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," he breathed, eyeing the small Celtic forever knot that was surrounded by his initials JDB. "Christ, you have my brand on you," he said, feeling himself harden with a completely possessive desire. 

"What?" She asked, eyes narrowed. "I did not brand myself with your name. Everyone was getting tattoos expressing their newfound freedom and I wanted to express the feelings I have for you with something permanent. Something to show that I know we will always be together. And yes, something to show that I am yours, forever." 

"You bet your sweet little ass you're mine," he pushed her up on the sink, kissing her deeply. 

"Jed," she protested, "anyone could just walk in here." 

"I locked the door," he said, sucking hard on her neck, ready to add yet another brand to this woman. 

"Jed, we're not...on the sink...in the bath...oh GOD." 

"Oh yes, we are." 

Abbey sat back on the sink, her legs wrapped around Jed's waist while he thrust deeply into her, and all the while he looked in the mirror behind her at that tattoo that told the world that this was his woman. No other man would ever know her this way, love her this way. She had his brand now. She was his. Forever. 

And, when they left the bathroom 10 minutes later with flushed faces and slightly mussed hair, Jed winked at the line of women who were waiting to use the facility. Millie grabbed Abbey's arm as she walked by. 

"I told you Jed would love it," she whispered. 

"When you're right, you're right," Abbey grinned. 

***** 

"Abbey the steaks are ready," Jed said, startling Abbey back from her trip down memory lane, as he entered the kitchen with a platter of grilled steaks. "Where is Annie?" 

"She's upstairs cleaning up," Abbey moved to him, kissing him softly on the lips. 

"What was that for?" 

"Because we are still together and I still love you and I'm glad that I am your woman." 

"Well, I don't know what brought all that on but I thank God every day that you are my woman." He touched his lips softly to hers with more of a promise of a kiss than a kiss. 

"See, I told you," Annie said to Isabelle, "all over each other." 

Chapter 7: 

It was one of those scorching, hot, humid beach days that sapped all energy and caused people to flock to water or shade. The air was heavy and still, and even when the tide turned, there was not the usual relief of a sea breeze. 

Wearing only the thinnest, flimsiest sundress she could find, Abbey lay on a wicker chaise lounge, shaded by pine and maple trees. She had a book in one hand and a long, tall glass of iced tea in the other. It was too damned hot to get very involved in her book and she tossed it down replacing it with the mindless frivolity of Cosmopolitan magazine. The headline 'You and your Lover, How Sexually Adventurous are you?' caught her eye and she began to fill out the survey. She was interrupted by the tinny sound of Marvin Gaye singing about 'Sexual Healing' that came from the old radio they kept on the porch. Jed, Annie, and Zoey were beginning to repaint the old sailboat that had once belonged to Jed and Jon, then Elizabeth and finally Ellie and Zoey, who had re-christened it the 'Zellie'. Growing up, the two of them had spent hours on the water sailing together. 

Abbey pretended to keep working on her survey, but she was really watching Jed, as he worked in his old paint splattered khaki shorts and worn, faded Celtics tank top. She watched his biceps flex as he scraped paint, and the rivulets of sweat that ran down his tanned legs, making her itch to run her fingertips over the dark gold hair on his calves. While he may have gotten a little stocky over the years, he was still one damned sexy, attractive man. It always amazed her that after all these years she could still feel such powerful waves of desire for this man of hers. 

Jed ran his hands through his sweat dampened hair, then reached for his beer, taking a long pull. When he put the bottle down he caught Abbey's frankly admiring gaze and gave her an all knowing wink. Flustered at being caught, Abbey snapped back to her survey, as if she had not been watching him and fantasizing about what she wanted to do with him. Jed threw back his head and laughed, but Abbey simply ignored him and continued on with her survey. 

As the afternoon progressed, the oppressive heat even reached Abbey in the shade. She felt the perspiration trickling down her spine and between her breasts. She pressed her wet glass to her forehead, then scooped out a cube of ice and began to run it down over her throat, her chest, and between her breasts. She was completely unaware that Jed was watching her intently while he painted. When she finally did catch his eye, she stared right at him and ran the cube sensuously over her lips, licking the moisture away with her tongue. But it was watching her suck that cube into her mouth that caused Jed to paint right over the hand that he had braced against the boat. 

"Shit!" Jed exclaimed, shaking his dripping hand. He heard Abbey's soft feminine laughter coming from the trees. Zoey shook her head looking at her father's paint smeared hand. 

"Where is your mind, Dad?" she asked. "You were just like a thousand miles away." 

"I guess I just wasn't paying attention," he muttered. I am not going to tell you where my mind was kiddo, he thought, because my mind was on the fact that if you weren't here, I would be on your mother and lifting her skirts this very instant. I would take that ice cube and run it... 

"Damn," he cursed, he had done it again. 

"I think the sun has fried your brain. You want to take a break?" Zoey asked. 

"Or I could get you another beer," Annie offered. 

"No girls, I'm fine," Jed grumbled, thinking that he had better start concentrating on the task at hand before he covered the rest of his body with paint. He vowed not to look up at Abbey and actually kept that vow for almost 15 minutes. When he couldn't resist the urge any longer, he looked over to where she had been reclining. The chaise lounge was empty. He shielded his eyes against the sun and began scanning the area for his wife. 

"If you're looking for Gram, she went inside," Annie said. She and Zoey were stripping off their clothes down to the bathing suits they wore underneath. 

Damn, Jed thought. Now that they had finished painting he had been hoping for a little more titillation. 

"Annie and I are going down to the beach swimming for a couple hours to cool off. OK?" Zoey asked. 

"Go ahead, have fun," he waved them off. "Don't forget, no..." 

"Swimming alone," Annie and Zoey both called back, "we know, we know." 

Jed smiled and turned to head for the house. He couldn't wait to get out of his sweat soaked clothes and take a nice cool shower. As he walked around the back of the house, still thinking about that shower, Abbey was standing, blocking his way. 

"Where are you going?" She asked, placing her hands on his shoulders. 

"Inside." 

"Really," she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply. He knew she meant business when her tongue swept into his mouth. 

"Hey, I'm all for this babe," he said, pulling back, "but I really should shower first. I'm pretty gross." 

"No," she said, pulling his clinging shirt away from his chest to thread her fingers through his chest hair. 

"No?" He raised an eyebrow. Abbey usually hated to make love in the heat. How many times had she slapped him away telling him it was too fucking hot to have sex? 

"Uh uh...I want you...hot..and sweaty...and NOW..." She took his hand and slid it inside her sundress, pressing it into her breast. Jed didn't need anymore incentive than that. He thought about carrying her inside to their bedroom, but that was too far. He looked around for cover, saw the outdoor shower stall, and yanked her forcefully inside. He pressed her back against the wall and proceeded to kiss her hard, the way she wanted it. There were times she wanted to be made love to and other times she wanted to be taken, and right now she wanted to be taken, to revel in Jed's strength and maleness. She pulled his soaked tank over his head and began to run her lips and tongue over his chest with abandon. The salty taste of his sweat was wildly erotic to Abbey, and she began to rub her face against his chest hair, loving the roughness against her soft cheek, loving everything that was hard and rough and male about him. 

Jed's hands moved under Abbey's sundress, lifting it as they moved higher to stroke her thighs. As his fingers moved upwards, coming into contact with the soft curls between her legs, he realized she wasn't wearing panties. The fact that she had come out here wanting this, looking for sex, excited him right down to his bones. He gave a sharp intake of breath as Abbey clamped down on his nipple, sucking hard and he lifted her so her legs wrapped around his waist. Abbey felt just how hard he was against her core and she squirmed against him with what he swore was a purr. 

"Jed, now...please," she cried, and he knew there would not be any foreplay this afternoon, just hot, mindless sex. He set Abbey back on her feet so he could unzip his shorts. "Come on Jed...hurry," she urged him while she pulled the sundress over her head and stood before him, gloriously nude in the sunlight. He was finally free and Abbey felt a tingle of anticipation at just how rock hard he was for her. She moved in for another deep kiss, tasting the beer on his tongue. He raised her leg over his hip and lifted her back up so she could wrap her legs around him again 

"Oh God Jed, take me now...now." He lifted her hips away from him and she pulled his penis back from his belly to guide him to her entrance. When he was positioned properly, he pulled Abbey's hips back towards him sliding the full length of himself inside her and causing her to give a purely feminine moan of contentment. Abbey held him deeply inside her, squeezing him with her inner muscles. 

"Ahh...babe...don't do that," he moaned, "it'll be over too soon." He pressed her back against the wall, burying his face into her breasts, while he thrust slowly into her. Abbey's hands tangled in his hair, her head falling back, as his lips found her left nipple. He flicked the tip of his tongue over and over it until he finally took it into his mouth to suckle. Abbey moaned as she felt her milk let down. She didn't usually let Jed do this, it made too much of a mess, but today it didn't matter if he wanted to taste her, and make a mess in the process, not in this urgent primal mating. 

"Harder Jed...I need it harder," she pleaded breathlessly. Jed couldn't get the leverage he needed to comply with her pleas while standing up. Abbey gave a cry of disappointment as he lifted her off him. 

"You want it harder, you have to lay down," he instructed. Abbey complied, laying back on the hard redwood floor. Jed settled back in between her thighs and his first deep thrust had her gasping from the combination of pain and pleasure. 

"Is that the way you want it?" Jed groaned. 

"Oh God...yes...oh yeah, babe...more." Her sexy whimpers had Jed losing control and he began to thrust harder and deeper. The floor didn't have any give so their bodies came together with sweaty claps. Their lips ground together until Abbey tasted blood. 

"Oh Abbey...Abbey," Jed moaned huskily into her hair, while his hands were running over the smooth legs that encircled his waist. Abbey welcomed his weight as he lay heavily on her pressing her into the floor, their slick bellies rubbing against each other, so he could thrust with increasing speed and depth that caused her to cry out every time he pounded in to his hilt. This was rough, it was wild, it bordered on pain and they both reveled in the animal nature of the act. Jed heard Abbey's breathing start to come in short gasps, felt her legs tightening around him, her feet digging into the small of his back, and her nails scraping hard down the back of his shoulders. The cries of his name grew louder and louder from her lips. 

"Jed...Jed...Jed...JEEED!!" The last time she almost screamed it as she went over the edge into a shattering orgasm. All it took was Abbey's inner muscles contracting hard around him to send him over the edge with a deep long moan of "Aaaa...bbey." 

Abbey felt his last deep thrust and then the short bursts of his climax which went on and on inside her, prolonging her own electric impulses until he finally collapsed on top of her, gasping for air. Abbey soothed him by running her fingers through his hair and over his shoulders. 

"Oh Jesus," he groaned against her neck, "I didn't think I was ever going to stop coming." 

"Me neither," Abbey sighed and the companionable laugher of two satiated lovers filled the afternoon air. 

**** 

"I still say this is a bad idea," Josh said as he, Leo, Toby, Sam, and CJ walked from the rental car toward the cottage. 

"Look, we need to get the key to the guest cottage," Leo said. "What is the big deal?" 

"The big deal is that the last time I saw the President and we discussed his wife, he ripped me a new one and slammed the door in my face." 

"I really don't like the idea of getting in the middle of their marital problems." 

"I told you guys that I talked to the President and he said they made up." 

"Yeah, come on guys. Don't tell me you didn't hear all those rumors?" CJ wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

"The Secret Service stuff?" Sam asked with a grin. "About the First Lady...you know..." 

"Are you blushing, Sam?" CJ laughed, nudging him. "You are, aren't you?" 

"You all know better than to listen to gossip," Leo said. 

"Do you think it's tr..." Josh began, then stopped as he approached the house, putting a hand up to shush everyone. "Did you hear that? I think the President hurt himself again...I swear I just heard him moan." 

"God only knows what he has done to himself this time," Leo sighed, moving to the front of the group. 

"There it is again...We better check. It sounds like he's in pain," Just as they were to round the corner, Leo stopped them. 

"Oh Christ, you lunkheads, the President is not hurt, let's get the hell out of here." 

"What...why?" They looked at him puzzled. 

"I know this job curtails much of a private life, but has it really been so long that none of you recognizes the sound of se..." Before he could finish the sentence, they all heard a sensual throaty moan of the President's name from the First Lady. A few soft whimpers followed from her along with the deeper groans of the President. They all paled with the realization of what exactly they were hearing. 

Leo stood transfixed for a moment. He knew that he should leave, but one part of him wanted to hear Abbey again. Ever since he had met her he had wondered what she would be like in bed. She was such a beautiful, passionate, loving woman that somehow he knew she would be completely open and uninhibited in bed. That rumor going around Washington of what she had done for the President on the deck of their boat had given him more than one erotic dream. He had known Abbey for so many years, had seen her in her nightclothes, in a bathing suit, in bed with the covers drawn to her chest while her husband was covered in massage oil. He had caught the couple making out, or in each other's arms, more times than he could count, but he had never heard Abbey in throes of passion and he couldn't believe just how turned on he was by it. He knew his nights now would be filled with wondering just what Abbey looked like when she was making those sexy sounds, and just what she was doing to Jed to make him sound like he was dying of ecstasy. 

"Let's GO," Sam said urgently, grabbing Leo's arm and tearing him out of his fantasy. Sam certainly did not want to be the one to catch the First Lady in another embarrassing situation. He still hadn't lived down interrupting her while she was giving birth. 

"I told you the rumors were true," CJ said, punching Josh on the arm. 

"What do you want me to do? Bow to your infinite wisdom?" 

"You're damn right I do." 

**** 

Back in the shower stall Abbey and Jed laid, a tangle of limbs. Abbey's hair was stuck to Jed's chest and shoulders and they were still breathing unevenly. Jed rolled to his side with a groan. 

"We're getting too old to screw around on a hard floor." 

"Hey, you weren't the one on the bottom," she winced as she sat up. 

"I'm sorry. I was a little rough with you," he said running his thumb over a drop of blood from the cut on her lip. He could already see small bruises forming where his fingers had dug into her hips. "Did I hurt you?" 

"I'm OK," she assured him, "you weren't any rougher than I was." She ran a finger over the small bite mark on his shoulder and the scratches on his back that now stung from the salt of his sweat. 

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" 

"We're a mess is what we are." 

"I thought you didn't care about the mess." 

"That was before." 

"Before what?" 

"Before you scratched my little itch," she ran her nails over his belly. 

"Oh, is that what I did?" He ran his hand up and down the curve of her hip. 

"Mmmhmmm," she purred, "but now I want to get clean." Jed stood, lifted Abbey to her feet, and turned the shower nozzle on. The cool water was refreshing and cleansing. Jed ran his soapy hands down Abbey's spine and surprised her by pressing his lips to her tattoo. 

"Annie asked me about this," he said, swirling his tongue over it. "She said you told her it wasn't a secret, just something personal between you and me, and she forgot to ask what it meant." 

"What did you tell her?" She asked, pulling him up so she could soap up his chest. 

"That a celtic knot is forever. Once it is knotted it can't be undone. And that is what happened the day we got married. We got all knotted up together and nothing will ever make that knot come undone." After the last few months they'd had, those words meant more to Abbey than ever and she kissed him lightly on the lips. 

"So what else did you and Annie discuss?" 

"Oh, I figure you must have had the will my breasts ever grow speech." 

"Well, we used the word boobs, but breasts will do. How did you know?" She leaned her head back while Jed lathered the shampoo in her hair. 

"Because she asked me the same thing all three of our girls did. Can a boy like a girl if she doesn't have big boobs?" 

"To which you gave your standard response of 'Of course honey, it's what's inside a person that matters.'" 

"I guess I need some new material." 

"Yeah, and if you remember when you were a 13 or 14 year old boy, don't tell me you were looking to see the person inside a girl. You were looking for big boobs." 

"Of course I was, but I'm not going to tell my granddaughter that. But don't you worry, honey," he said, cupping her breasts from behind, "I'd have loved you even if you didn't have big boobs." 

"What a comforting thought," she smirked, turning around in his arms, "and so romantic." 

"Hey sassy, it isn't always going to be flowers and poetry," he grinned, still massaging her breasts. He felt her nipples harden under his thumbs. "Want to go for another round?" He asked. Abbey looked up at him like he had two heads. 

"I am WAY too sore for another round right now. Hell, I'll be lucky if I can walk. Besides, the babies will be up soon and Ellie should be arriving anytime now," she said, turning off the water. 

"Well, you can't blame a guy for trying," he said, starting to towel himself dry. 

"What time is the staff coming?" She asked, slipping her sundress back on. 

"I don't know. They said they would fly in some time tonight and rent a car in Portland." He wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the shower stall door. 

"Jed," Abbey stopped him, "you can't just walk out there half naked." 

"I'm not, I have a towel on." 

"And nothing underneath it." 

"If we happen to bump into someone, they won't know I don't have a suit on underneath. Relax." She had been uptight about these things ever since the boat. 

*** 

The staff saw the President and First Lady round the corner of the house. Their hair was wet, their arms were wrapped around each other's waists with her head resting on his shoulder. Their intimate laughter stopped when they saw everyone spread out relaxing on the porch. 

"Hey, you guys...you're here," Jed said inanely. 

"It would appear that way," Leo said blandly. 

"You're early, we weren't expecting you so soon." 

"Evidently," CJ smirked. 

"Leo's meeting got cancelled and we decided to come early and surprise you," Toby said. 

"Surprise!" Josh and Sam said in unison. 

"Been swimming?" Toby asked. 

"Uh...no. I got sweaty working on Ellie and Zoey's boat so I took an outdoor shower." 

"Did you work on the boat too, Abbey?" Leo asked innocently. Abbey touched her wet hair, knowing exactly how this looked. 

"Just how long have you guys been here?" she asked sharply. 

"Oh, a little while now. We needed to get the keys to the guesthouse but we didn't want to interrupt your...shower," Leo grinned. Jed saw Abbey blush and he pulled her into his arms, giving her a big kiss, knowing the best defense was a good offense. 

"Don't let them rattle you sweetheart," he said loud enough for them all to hear. "They're just hot, cranky, jealous, and several of them need a good...shower," he grinned at them. 

**** 

Leo followed Jed into the study to get the keys. 

"Jesus," he said, eyeing the bite mark on his collarbone and the scratch marks on his back. "Did you two have sex or try to kill each other?" 

"So you heard us pretty good, did you?" 

"Josh thought you were moaning in pain and he had us all ready to rush to your rescue." 

"Oh Christ," Jed laughed, "thank God he didn't. Abbey would have died. By the way, don't let on just how much you heard. She's still a little sensitive about some stuff that happened on the boat." 

"That Secret Service rumor is true?" Leo looked at him incredulously. 

"If it includes my wife and a certain act on the deck of the boat, than yes, it is true." 

"That would be the one. You know you better be careful doing things like that." 

"Don't worry, Dad, those twins I have sleeping upstairs are warning enough about the pitfalls of unprotected sex. Besides, if you had paid attention in hygiene class, you would know that you can't make a baby that way." 

"That isn't what I was talking about," Leo shook his head laughing. "I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but that certain little act is illegal in some states. You could be impeached if you got caught." 

"Illegal? Good Christ, that is positively...un-American...it's unconstitutional." 

"And what part of the constitution is that? Freedom of sex?" 

"Damn straight, that one ought to be in there too. It's in the Declaration, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There it is Leo, the pursuit of happiness. That little act sure does make me happy." 

"I'll bet it does," Leo said wryly. 

"Well, I guess you'll just need to find out what states have this law and make sure we don't campaign there. There are some things just not worth sacrificing, even for the Presidency," Jed was grinning and Leo was shaking his head at him, when they both heard the front screen door bang shut. 

"Mom, Dad...I'm here." 

"Ellie's here," Jed said excitedly, his face breaking into a beaming smile. "God, I hope she didn't bring that Davis putz." 

"Be nice," Leo warned. 

"I'm always nice, Leo. You're the mean one." 

"So I've heard." 

*** 

"Ellie," Jed said, sweeping her into his arms for a big bear hug. He looked behind and around her and did not see Davis Hunter anywhere. "Are you alone?" 

"Yes," she looked down at the ground. Jed tilted her chin to look into her sea green eyes, Abbey's eyes, and was troubled by what he saw. There was a sadness in their depths that somehow he just knew Davis had caused. Well, he had a week to get the story out of her. Or, maybe Abbey could anyway. His sensitive middle daughter had always found it easier to confide in her mother than she did him. He hoped, maybe on this visit, he could get her to open up to him. 

"What is it kitten, what's wrong?" 

Chapter 8: 

The Bartlet family was in the kitchen preparing for an outdoor supper. Abbey was filling a tray with plasticware, paper plates, and napkins while expertly bouncing a fussing Aislinn on her hip. 

"Ok girls, this tray is all set to go out, and don't forget the pitchers of lemonade," she said, handing the tray to Annie. 

"I'll bring out the food," Jed said, taking the big box from one of the agents, who had made the trip into the village to Barnacle Bills, the Bartlets' favorite place for takeout fried clams and fries. 

"Stop it, sweetie," Abbey said, pulling a strand of her hair from Aislinn's clutching little hand. She was trying to pull condiments from the refrigerator, which was not an easy thing to do with her daughter fussing and grabbing at her hair and shirt. 

"Here Mom, let me take her," Ellie said, putting her arms out to take her sister. "I'll put her outside in the playpen with Nicky." 

"Thanks," Abbey said handing the baby to her daughter, "I think she's starting to cut a tooth so she is not in the best of moods today." 

"If she's still fussy, I brought the baby swing out," Jed said. "She'll usually quiet down and fall asleep in that." 

"Ok," Ellie turned to leave and Abbey began to fill another tray with the tartar sauce, lemon, and ketchup she had pulled from the fridge. 

"Did you get a chance to talk to Ellie yet?" Jed asked her. 

"Not really. I asked her if Davis was coming for a visit. She said he might come for the party, but when I asked her if anything was wrong she closed up like one of these clams." 

"She did the same with me. Damn, I thought she might talk to you. Something is wrong, Abbey. I can see it in her eyes." 

"Unfortunately, I may have to agree with you this time. She does seem a bit subdued. I'll try to have a real heart to heart with her some time tonight. I'm sure it's nothing. She and Davis probably had a spat or something. Don't you remember what it was like to be that age and how easy it was to get all emotional over something as small as being late for a date?" 

"Darlin', at her age we were married and had Elizabeth." He wrapped his arms around her from behind resting his chin on the top of her head. For a moment they both looked out the kitchen window to watch their brood preparing the picnic table for supper. 

"Were we really that young?" Abbey sighed, leaning back against his chest. "Sometimes I look at Zoey and I am just amazed to think that I was her age when I met you and fell in love with you. That if she came to me and said she met the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, I would tell her she was much too young to make a decision like that. Yet, a year older than she is now, and I was married and pregnant." 

"I've had some of those same thoughts. I look at Ellie, and how hard she is working at school. She has a brilliant career ahead of her and I just hope she doesn't let some young man get in the way of that. At least not too soon." 

"The way you did with me?" Abbey smiled. 

"Yeah. Now that I look back, I think your father showed remarkable restraint by not punching me in the face when I went to him to tell him that I intended to marry you." 

"And that I was putting off medical school to follow you to London. God, they're just kids, Jed. WE were just kids. Two kids, crazy in love, with no idea at all of just what marriage would entail." 

"If you had to do it all again, the same way, would you?" Abbey turned in his arms to look deeply into his eyes. She ran her hand gently over his cheek. 

"In a heartbeat," her answer was husky with emotion. 

"Mom, Dad," Zoey yelled from outside, "are you two going to bring out the food?" 

"We're coming," Jed called back, then pressed his lips to Abbey's forehead. "I wouldn't change anything either." 

Once the picnic table was cleared, Jed began to pack the babies diaper bag and double-wide stroller into the black SUV the service would be carting them around in. Abbey was strapping the babies into their car seats. They were planning a low-key evening in the village, which would include the mini golf Jed had promised Annie. 

"Are they all strapped in?" Jed asked. 

"All ready to roll," Abbey shut the door. 

"Is that what you're wearing to go golfing?" His eyes skeptically surveyed her up and down. She was wearing white shorts that stopped well above her knees and a slim fitting black tank top that showed she had all the right curves. Her pink painted toes and little silver toe ring peeked out from the top of black high heel slide-on sandals and a delicate silver anklet encircled her slender ankle. 

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Abbey asked. She looked good and she knew it, especially just six months after giving birth. What's more, she was not afraid to flaunt that, never had been. 

"Well, people don't really golf in heels, Hon." 

"Jed, I can do anything in heels. You should know that by now." 

"I still don't know how you get around on those things without breaking an ankle." 

"Well, I do. And besides, this is mini golfing with the family, it's not like I'm going on the LPGA tour." She watched a smile form on Jed's face and then he began to laugh. "What is so funny?" 

"I'm just trying to picture the faces of those women on the LPGA tour in their long Bermuda shorts, collared shirts, golf cleats, and visors if you were to arrive to golf with them in this get up." 

"It might liven things up," Abbey sniffed. 

"That it would, hot pants," he said and gave her bottom a soft pinch. 

**** 

Of course the press was in full force as the Bartlet entourage arrived at the Pirate's Cove mini golf course. But, CJ had made a deal with them that the Bartlets would pose with their brood for a few pictures on the first hole if the press would leave them alone for the rest of the evening. 

Aislinn and Nicholas were the immediate focus of the photographers. The entire country was obsessed with the Bartlet babies, yet they had rarely been seen, except in official photos released from the White House. Now, here they were, dozing in their stroller, with pacifiers in their mouths. But Abbey had not made the corps happy, by refusing to wake her children so she and the President could hold them and pose. 

"Come on guys, give us a break," Abbey smiled, trying to keep it light, when inside she was really seething that they would even suggest she do this. "You aren't the ones who will have to deal with the consequences." 

"Ah, it can't be that bad," one reporter called out. 

"You ever spent an evening with a cranky, screaming, over-tired infant?" Jed asked. 

"No...I guess not." 

"Well then, you don't know how bad it can get. What's your name, son?" 

"Greg Stevens, Miami Herald." 

"Well Greg, you wake up my kids and I'll track you down and have you baby-sit," he grinned, "then you will know exactly what my wife and I are trying to explain to you." The other reporters all began to laugh. 

The interest moved from the babies to the First Couple when the President, concerned that his wife had putted far to the left of the hole, took it upon himself to teach her the basics. He stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind to place her hands properly on the putter. It got very quiet, save for the sound of the camera shutters clicking. The reporters were straining to hear what was being said between the couple, but were too far away, and so, had to rely on their body language. 

"Look at your arms, sweetheart," Jed said, squeezing her elbow, "they're too loose. That's why your ball went to the left." 

"My ball is just fine," Abbey said, with a low tone of warning that Jed chose to ignore. 

"It went to the left because your elbows weren't locked and..." 

"Jed, you don't even like golf," exasperation was seeping into Abbey's voice, "now, let go of me and let me play." 

"Do you see how close my ball got? That's because I..." Abbey turned to look at him with a smile for the reporters' benefit. 

"You are not going to have any balls if you don't let go of me," she said through her teeth, the smile still on her face. 

"You wouldn't dare," he murmured into her ear, knowing that part of his anatomy was safe as long as the reporters were present. Jed was right on that count, but the smug look left his face when Abbey started to get in position to hit her ball and wiggled her little rear back up against him. She felt him stiffen with surprise and back off as if she had touched him with a live flame, which, in a way, she had. 

"You're playing with fire, lady," he warned her softly, with just the hint of a twinkle in his eye. 

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it in front of all these cameras?" She gave him a sidelong, flirtatious look. 

"Oh, I might not do anything here in front of the free press, but there is always tonight," his voice was a low whisper. 

"Ok Mom, it's your turn again," Ellie said. Abbey looked up to see that the girls had all finished their turns. She got in position to hit her ball, giving her hips an extra little wiggle for Jed's benefit. She then looked straight at her husband, keeping her arms deliberately loose, and hit her ball. Right into the hole. 

"Good shot, Gram," Annie called out enthusiastically. 

"You were saying," Abbey lifted an eyebrow at Jed. 

"Touche baby," he tipped his Red Sox baseball cap to her. 

The press corps left the course when the Bartlets moved on to the next hole. Many were grumbling over the fact that things had just started getting interesting. After answering a few questions, none of which had to do with policy, CJ overheard some of the camera men and reporters' observations. 

"Did you see that little wiggle the First Lady gave the President while he was helping her putt?" 

"Oh yeah, couldn't miss it. You know, I used to hate following Presidents on their boring vacations, but this First Lady makes it very interesting." 

"VERY interesting. You gonna write about those great legs she has in your column?" 

CJ walked away smiling. Her job was certainly easier now that the Bartlets were on good terms again, and she wasn't having to field questions about the rumors of a rift. Anyone who had seen them together here in Maine would know that, if there had been a rift, it did not exist anymore. 

"You leaving?" Jed asked as she walked past them on the 5th hole. 

"Yup. The wolves are all gone and you guys should be free for the night. By the way, if there is some country that you are a little ticked off at and want to bomb or invade, now is the time to do. All the press is interested in is the First Lady's toe ring." 

"I gave that to her," Annie smiled proudly, and she and Abbey stuck out their feet, wiggling their toes, to show off their matching rings. 

"Well, half the women in America will be sporting them, along with anklets tomorrow, if the way they follow your hairstyles is any indication." CJ started to walk away, then turned back to them. "Oh yeah, Abbey, thought you might want to know, the consensus, at least among the men in the press corps, is that you have terrific legs. Bye bye," she waved and was off. 

"Wipe that smile off your face, sweet pea, you're a married woman, and a feminist to boot. Aren't feminists supposed to be against men looking at them like sex objects?" 

"I can't speak for all feminists, but I am also a woman, and I can guarantee you that almost every woman in the world will smile when told that she has great legs." 

"Well at least that group of jackals has good taste in women." 

**** 

Their game over, the Bartlet family walked along Shore Road through the quaint coastal village. This was something they were never allowed to do in DC, and both Jed and Abbey relished their freedom. Well, semi freedom. There were still agents in front and behind them. Ellie, Zoey, and Annie walked up ahead chattering and giggling. Abbey and Jed strolled slowly behind them, arm in arm, as they pushed the baby carriage along. 

"That was a really sweet thing you did, missing that last shot," Abbey said. 

"I don't know what you are talking about." 

"Jed, you missed that last shot on purpose so that Annie could beat you. I watched you hit it to the side." 

"Abbey, I never LET people win. Just ask my staff. It just isn't in my competitive nature." 

"Sure it isn't," she smiled knowingly, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. "It was very sweet," she whispered into his ear. 

As they approached Ida's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor, they all waited outside while the service checked the establishment out and gave them the ok to enter. The other patrons stared in awe as the First Family took a table way in the back. 

Abbey and Ellie ordered chocolate ice cream sodas and sat at the table, watching with amusement as Jed, Zoey, and Annie tried to outdo each other with toppings at the make your own sundae bar. Abbey watched one little boy on his tiptoes as he tried to reach for the maraschino cherries. His little arm was too short to reach and his harried mother was too busy helping her other children to notice his plight. The little boy jumped to reach and his arm dragged though the butterscotch sauce. 

"Hold on there partner," Jed said, holding the boy's arm out so he wouldn't get the sticky syrup all over his shirt. The boy looked at Jed with serious brown eyes, as Jed began to wipe his arm off with a napkin, which wasn't quite doing the job. Abbey dug in the diaper bag and approached them with a damp baby wipe to clean the mess off. The frazzled mother finally looked around. Her mouth dropped open as she saw the President and First Lady kneeling on the floor cleaning up her son. 

"Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet, I'm so sorry he bothered you. Luke, how did you make such a mess?" 

"It's all right," Jed smiled. "I've got several kids myself. I know how hard it is to keep track of them. I think Luke here just wanted some of these cherries, didn't you, son? I mean, a sundae is not a sundae without the cherry on top." The little boy named Luke nodded and Jed placed the cherries on top of his sundae. "There you go, you're all set now." 

"Thank you," Luke said solemnly. At that moment the woman's other children began squabbling and calling for her. The woman gave a strained look from her kids to the President of the United States. 

"Well Luke, I think your Mom might need some help with your brothers and sisters. You up to that?" 

"Yes, sir." Luke turned to leave and his mother placed an arm around him to lead him away. Abbey watched the woman with sympathy. There had not been a wedding ring on her finger and no male with all those children. Being a mother was hard enough with her husband's help, she couldn't imagine how difficult it was to be to be a single mother. She heard the mother whispering to her son, "Do you know who that was helping you back there?" 

"Who?" Luke asked. 

"That was the President and the First Lady." 

"What's he the President of?" Both Jed and Abbey bit their lips to keep from laughing. 

After a few more minutes at the bar, Jed and the girls returned with enormous sundaes. Abbey and Ellie shook their heads in amused disdain. 

"You three have no restraint," Abbey said. 

"None at all," Jed agreed, and began to dig right into his ice cream. As he put a spoonful into his mouth, he noticed Aislinn and Nicholas watching him with wide eyes. 

"You guys are making me feel awfully guilty here," he said. He put a small amount of vanilla ice cream on his spoon and moved it toward Nicky's mouth. 

"One bite," Abbey said firmly, "you'll make them sick." 

"Ok, ok, one little taste," he promised, dipping his spoon in to get a bite for his daughter. "Aislinn, you look like a little bird with your mouth open like that," he chuckled and spooned the ice cream into her mouth. Her eyes blinked rapidly in surprise, as everything from her mother's milk to her baby cereal was placed warm into her mouth. The cold ice cream was a whole new experience. 

"Mark this one in the baby book, Abs," he turned to his wife, "their first taste of ice cream." 

"And with you as their Dad, it certainly won't be their last," she sighed. 

"Hey, they need me to combat all those vegetables their mother will be cramming down their throats." 

**** 

With their ice cream finished, they all began to stroll back toward the Pirate's Cove. The sun had set and dusk was setting in over the sea. This time it was Ellie who hung back with Abbey and the babies. 

"Honey, you've been awfully quiet since you got here. Are you sure everything is all right with you?" 

"Yes, everything is fine," Ellie smiled. "I'm just tired from all the long hours." 

"Zoey said when she and Charlie went to visit you that you had a fight with Davis." 

"Oh, that was nothing," she looked up into her mother's skeptical eyes. "Really Mom, Davis was just under a lot of stress because of his exams." 

"Ellie, you know you can talk to me about anything, honey." 

"I know Mom, but there is nothing wrong. Don't worry about me." 

"I'll worry about you until the day I die," Abbey smiled. "That's what mother's do. Just remember that I'm here for you if you need me." 

"I know that, Mom," Ellie smiled, swallowing past the lump in her throat, wishing for a moment that she did have the strength to confide in her mother. Her mother never judged or ridiculed. But, she was an adult now and she couldn't always go running into Mommy's arms for help. 

As they turned the corner, they saw Jed and the girls waiting for them. 

"Jed, why are we stopped in front of this candy store?" Abbey asked with her hands on her hips. 

"Annie wants to go in," he said almost sheepishly. 

"Annie, I don't think you need candy after that huge sundae you had." 

"Yeah, how can you think of candy?" Ellie and Zoey groaned. Annie gazed at the stern look on her grandmother's face back to her grandfather. She knew exactly who to appeal to. 

"Please Gramps," she pleaded. Jed's eyes moved from his wife to the big blue eyes of his granddaughter. Oh Christ, he could never resist any of the women in his life. 

"Ok Annie. ONE bag." He started in with her and two of their agents. Abbey rolled her eyes and shook her head. 

"She sure has him wrapped around her finger," Zoey grinned. 

"HER," Abbey said incredulously, "you all do. Pleeease Daddy, with a little batting of the eyes, is all it has ever taken any of you to get around your father." 

"And just who do you think we learned that from," Ellie said, nudging her mother with an elbow. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Abbey tossed her head. "I don't try to wrap your father around my finger." 

"You don't have to try," Zoey and Ellie said in unison and they both began to laugh. 

"Besides," Ellie said, "there is another term they use for that situation. It's called being pu..." 

"Don't use that word, Eleanor Bartlet," Abbey said sternly, "I hate that term." 

"All right," Ellie said sheepishly, "it's called being whipped." 

"Your father is not whipped," Abbey stated firmly, but all three began to laugh when he came out with two boxes of saltwater taffy. 

"You're just an old softy, aren't you?" Abbey said when he approached her. 

"I got some of your favorite. Molasses," he dangled the box in front of her. "Mad at me?" 

"No, but I'm just warning you that when she gets sick tonight, you are the one who is going to sit up with her." 

"She isn't going to get sick." 

The sound of footsteps in the hall and the creaking stairs had Jed squinting at the clock beside the bed. It was 1:00 am. He got out of bed and threw his bathrobe on over his sweats. As he tried to quietly exit the bedroom, he heard his wife stirring. 

"Jed," she murmured sleepily, "is something wrong? Are the babies up?" 

"No, everything's fine, Hon. Go back to sleep." 

"Mmmm...'k," she rolled back over, snuggling up to his pillow. 

Jed padded barefoot down the hall. He peeked in on the twins, who were sleeping soundly, as were Ellie and Zoey. It was Annie who was missing. The light was on in the bathroom and he saw a half-empty glass of water on the sink. He shut the light and heard the sound of low voices coming from the first floor. He started down the stairs and found Annie curled up on the couch watching TV. 

"What are you doing, Tinkerbell?" 

"Gramps," she groaned. 

"Ok, Ok, what are you doing ,Annie? It's after one." 

"I don't feel so good," she ran a hand over her stomach, "I guess Grams was right." 

"Yeah, well let's not tell her that. What's wrong? Is your stomach upset?" He felt her forehead. 

"I ate almost the whole bag of taffy," she admitted. 

"Well, that would do it." He left the room to rummage in the bathroom and kitchen returning with a capful of pink liquid and a can of ginger ale. "Here, take this," he said, handing her the pink stuff. 

"What is it?" Annie asked. 

"Pepto Bismol, it will help settle your stomach." Annie swallowed it in one gulp, wrinkling her nose in distaste. 

"Yuck, let me have the ginger ale," she grabbed the can from him, taking a quick swig. 

"What are you watching?" Jed asked, sitting down beside her on the couch and propping his feet on the coffee table. 

"Never Been Kissed." 

"Ah, the true life story of the Bartlet-Weston girls." 

"In your dreams," Annie giggled. "You know you don't have to stay up with me. I'll be ok." 

"I know I don't have to. I want to." He put an arm around her and Annie snuggled against his chest. She would never admit it because she was 13 years old, but she was glad her grandfather was staying up with her. She always felt safe in his arms. Her relationship with him was easy and uncomplicated, unlike the one she shared with her father. Her grandfather simply loved her unconditionally and never neglected to tell her how proud he was of her and she had always worshipped the ground he walked on. She never felt that she was in the way with her grandparents, they were always thrilled to see her. As her grandfather stroked the hair back from her face and made funny comments about the movie she had chosen, Annie felt her eyelids starting to get very heavy. 

**** 

Abbey awoke to the usual morning whimpering and crying on the baby monitor. 

"Jed," she yawned, not opening her eyes yet, "please go get the babies. I'm still half-asleep. I'll feed them in bed this morning." There was no response from her husband. "Jed," she rolled over to shake him, but he wasn't there. She got to her feet, putting her bathrobe on, expecting to find Jed already in the nursery. But all she found there was two crying babies. 

"Morning, sweeties," she yawned again. "Are you two wet? Is that what you're trying to tell me? I'll bet you are." She lifted Aislinn first and laid her on the changing table to take care of that wet diaper. 

"Where is your daddy, Aislinn?" Abbey asked, kissing her daughter's bare belly. "This is supposed to be his job in the morning since he isn't quite equipped to feed you way the mommy is. 

With both babies in clean diapers, Abbey held one on each hip, looking from Nicky's blue eyes to Aislinn's hazel ones. 

"Well troops," she said, "let's go find Daddy and let him have it." 

Abbey expected to find Jed reading the paper and sipping coffee on the porch. She did not expect to find Annie and he sprawled over the couch sound asleep. Jed's head was back and he was snoring softly, his feet still propped on the coffee table. Annie lay stretched out, her feet on Jed's lap. As she got closer, Abbey saw the can of ginger ale and the bottle of Pepto Bismol and knew Jed had been up all night with their nauseous granddaughter. He had an 'I told you so' coming. But, not now, not when he looked so damned sweet. She kissed Annie's forehead lightly, the doctor in her just double-checking to make sure she didn't have a fever. Annie's eyes flickered open. 

"Mmmm. Gram?" 

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" 

"I wasn't sick, Gram." 

"Sure you weren't," Abbey smiled tenderly, stroking the hair back from her face. 

"Are we going to the island with Gramp's staff for a clambake today?" 

"Not today, pumpkin. Tomorrow. Just go back to sleep. It's still early." 

"Abbey," Jed said, opening his eyes tiredly, "what time is it?" 

"It's early, babe. The twins just woke up." 

"You were right." 

"Excuse me?" 

"I said you were right." 

"No, I heard what you said. I just can't believe what I heard. Can I get that in writing?" 

"Very funny." 

"I thought so." 

Jed glanced down at Annie. "She's still sleeping?" 

"She's fine. She's excited about the clambake tomorrow." 

"I think everyone is looking forward to it. Just remember to load up on Dramamine. We don't need half the people who run the free world getting seasick." 

Chapter 9: 

The morning of the planned clambake found Windy Point blanketed by a thick coat of fog. It was one of those deeply penetrating fogs that only happened on the coast and could burn off with the turn of the tide or, more often than not, last for days. 

Abbey Bartlet lay snuggled in her sleeping husband's warm arms, her head on resting on his bare torso. It was very early and the house was remarkably quiet and still. The only sounds were that of the clanking bell buoy way out at the tip of the point and the mournful repeated moans of a foghorn. She knew some people found the fog eerie or disturbing, her mother-in-law was completely unnerved when the fog settled in, but Abbey had always found being enveloped in the white cocoon oddly peaceful and comforting. 

"I think the clambake is out for today," Jed yawned, rubbing his chin against his wife's silky hair. 

"How long have you been awake?" Abbey asked, snuggling closer to his warm body and nuzzling her nose into him. Just like a little kitten, Jed thought with a smile, as he wrapped his arm around her to accommodate her desire to cuddle. 

"A little while," his voice was still husky with sleep. "Just laying here listening to the foghorn. Looks like we're socked in for the day." 

"Looks that way," she got up on one elbow and began to trace her finger up and down the bridge of his nose. "Do you remember that foggy week that we made Zoey?" 

"How could I forget?" He kissed the tip of the finger that had moved down to start tracing his lips. "My parents had taken Liz and Ellie to Boothbay for the regatta," he sucked her finger into his warm mouth, "and then the fog rolled in. Three days, with nothing to do but make love..." he kissed her palm "and make love," he kissed the pulse point on her wrist, "and make love," he pressed his lips into the bend of her elbow. 

"And make a baby," she smiled warmly at the memory, then sat up and placed a leg on each side of his hips. "And, except for the end result, I can't think of a better way to spend this foggy morning." 

"Me either," he smiled, cupping a hand behind her neck to pull her head down for a deep kiss. "To hell with the clambake." 

**** 

Jed added another log to the fire he had started in the fireplace to ward off the damp and cold that came with the fog. Ellie, Zoey, Annie, and Izzy were in the kitchen with Abbey. 

"Are you sure you and Dad don't want to come see 'Pearl Harbor' with us?" Ellie asked. 

"No, we screened it at the White House before it came out. You go and have fun. Just remember your hankies, girls," Abbey warned. 

"And are you sure that you don't mind me going?" Izzy asked, worried. 

"Izzy, you deserve some time off. Go enjoy yourself. The President and I are perfectly capable of taking care of our children." 

"Well, if you're sure." 

"I'm sure, now go before you miss the beginning." 

Jed heard the screen door shut and entered the kitchen to put his arms around Abbey's waist. 

"Alone at last," he nipped her neck, "whatever will we do?" 

"Let's play another game," she squirmed from his arms to clean up the pieces of Trivial Pursuit, which they had been sitting in front of the fireplace playing. 

"I just whipped your gorgeous little ass. Do you really want the humiliation of further defeat?" 

"I would hardly call winning by one pie piece whipping my ass. And, this time we will play a game of my expertise." She dug into the old sea chest that held dozens of the Bartlet family's favorite board games. "Ah ha! Here it is." 

"I'm not playing THAT against you," he groaned. 

"What's the matter? Chicken?" She asked, placing the game Operation on the table. "You're not going to wimp out on me, Josiah, are you?" Jed glared at her, knowing she had him right where she wanted him. His intensely competitive nature and his male pride would force him to challenge her in a game he knew he did not have a hope in hell of ever winning. 

**** 

"Ok, that was way too easy," Abbey said, placing the plastic bones in the box, while Jed was still getting zapped trying to get out the spare ribs. He hated this damn game. Every time he touched the side with the tweezers and the buzzer went off, it always startled him and caused him to jump. Abbey was watching him with a grin of superiority on her face. 

"Want me to take it out?" She put her hand out for the tweezers. 

"I've got it, I've got it," he grumbled, then jumped as the buzzer blared at him for touching the side. "Fine, take it," he placed the tweezers in her still outstretched hand. He watched her intently admiring the way her delicate hand did not shake at all. Her precise surgeon's fingers easily took out the small plastic piece without hitting the side and dropped it into the box. 

"Now, let's play something a little more challenging. How about Scrabble?" She began to dig in the chest again. Scrabble had always been a toss-up between them. Both had extensive vocabularies and it was Abbey's father's favorite game, which meant that she had played it often growing up. So, she wasn't bragging, when, after getting a triple word score for an obscure medical term that Jed had forced her to prove to him was a word in the dictionary, she gave him a saucy grin. 

"I think you better give it up, muffin, you'll never catch me now." 

"You're an awfully cocky little thing, aren't you?" He asked, grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her up on to his lap, placing her legs on each side of his waist. Abbey gasped as her groin came into contact with his. 

"Yeah, I am," she breathed. "So what are you going to do about it?" 

"Do I need to explain?" He asked, running his tongue lightly over her bottom lip. 

"No explanations needed, but we can't, Jed. Who knows when the girls will get back? I think we've been caught in enough compromising situations this week." 

"All right, so the main event is out, but when was the last time we just necked like a couple of teenagers on the couch?" He sat up and lifted her to her feet, leading her in front of the sofa. 

"We're usually too rushed for time," she said, sitting down and allowing herself to be pulled into his embrace. "Too worried we might be interrupted before getting to that main event, or worse, before finish." 

"You talk too much, lady," he said, covering her lips with his. "Be quiet and just let me kiss your breath away." 

"Yes sir," Abbey smiled against his lips. 

**** 

The two of them were wrapped in each other's arms on the couch in front of the fireplace enjoying the sensation of each other's lips and tongues. Reveling in long, sensuous, drugging kisses. Kissing for the simple sake of kissing, not as foreplay. They didn't get to do that nearly enough anymore. Jed's fingers were running through Abbey's soft hair and stroking the nape of her neck while hers ran tenderly over his cheeks, her tongue gently stroking his... 

"Josiah! Abigail! What is going on in here?!" The male voice was loud and stern causing the couple to jump apart like two guilty teenagers. Their startled gazes moved to the doorway to see Dr. Michael O'Neill grinning devilishly, with his wife Beth and Jed's mother Emily on each side of him. 

"Daddy!" Abbey cried, jumping to her feet to go and greet both her parents with a hug. 

"Well, damned if this wasn't just like old times," Michael laughed. "It sure wasn't easy keeping you two kids out of each other's arms and off our couch when you were dating." 

"Hi Dad," Jed shook his father-in-law's hand somewhat sheepishly. 

Emily was eyeing her daughter-in-law sharply, taking in her kiss swollen lips and the slightly red whisker burn rash on her cheeks, then turned to see her son's tousled hair. 

"Really Josiah," she said in that clipped aristocratic New England voice, "your daughters could have walked in here and caught you just the way we did. What kind of an example would that be setting?" 

"A good one," Jed said, putting an arm around Abbey's waist. 

"It's good for kids to see that their parents love each other. It makes them feel secure," Beth said, coming to her son-in-law's defense. 

"Besides, believe me Mother, the girls wouldn't blink an eye if they caught Abbey and I sucking face. It certainly wouldn't be the first time." 

"Oh Josiah, what a perfectly horrid term. And, I mean really, it is the middle of the day." 

"Is there a rule I missed about not kissing in the middle of the day?" Abbey asked innocently. 

"You know some people even have..." Abbey slapped her hand over Jed's mouth before he could continue with what he was about to say, but Emily didn't notice for she was eyeing the Scrabble board now. She was shaking her head, her lips pursed with disapproval at the word 'orgasm' going down the middle of the board. That was not the only word that caught her disapproval as sex and medical terms seemed to be the theme of the board. Then, her brow furrowed with puzzlement and she turned to her son and daughter-in-law. 

What does 'fellatio' mean?" Emily asked, and both Jed and Abbey turned red with embarrassment. At that moment, the twins' petulant cries arose from the nursery, causing Abbey to sigh with relief. 

"Well, I hate to skip the end of this lovely conversation, but that's my cue," she turned to go up the stairs. 

"Coward," Jed called up after her. 

"Josiah?" Emily insisted. 

"Well..uh...well..it's, um...how can I explain...it's when...uh." 

"Oh, never mind, I should have known it would be something dirty," she sniffed. Jed was about to contradict her that it wasn't dirty at all, but he also knew his mother. He knew she would consider that very dirty indeed. 

**** 

Beth O'Neill sat in the nursery watching her daughter who was nursing her infant son. 

"You've been lucky this time, getting to nurse them this long. You had to wean the girls so early to go back to work." 

"I know," Abbey said, stroking Nicky's silky head. "I think I'll go for a couple more months." 

"Until their teeth start really coming in," Beth laughed softly. 

"Yeah," she smiled sadly. 

"Why the gloom honey?" 

"I just get a little sad when I think of weaning them. This will be my last time ever nursing a baby, just like it was my last time being pregnant. Everything with them will be the last time. The last time watching them take their first steps, the last time for the first day of school. I never felt that way with Zoey, because I didn't know it was going to be the last time. Well, for quite a few years anyway. We thought we'd still give it a few years to try for a little boy. But, now I am 100% sure this is it, so the moments are bittersweet." 

"Don't let them be. You just thank God that you got this last time to experience it all again, and since you know it's the last time, savor every moment. People don't do that enough. You get to have all those firsts again Abbey, enjoy it." 

"How'd you get to be so smart?" Abbey asked, switching breasts. 

"My mother. Growing up, your Grandma Anne always stressed two things to me that I have tried to pass on to you and your sister and brother. To live by the golden rule, doing unto others as you'd have done to you, and to always view life as if the glass is half full, never half empty. You can't enjoy life if you always think the glass is half empty." 

"I think I've been forgetting to think that way ever since Jed got shot. Especially these last few months with everything that has happened. I got a little lost along the way." 

"Everyone gets a little lost at time,s sweetheart," she kissed Abbey's forehead and gazed down at her grandson who was suckling so intently, "but as long as you find your way back home you're fine." Abbey thought about the closeness and renewed passion that she and Jed had regained since he had arrived and they had come to terms with his decision to run again. 

"I have found my way back home, Mama. We both have." 

"Good. Just remember, and make sure that husband of yours remembers, that the glass is always half full." 

"We'll try," Abbey promised, lifting Nicholas to her shoulder and patting his back to burp him. She deeply inhaled the scent of baby shampoo and talcum powder that came from her son. Her mother was right, she should just be thankful for all that she had. Jed had recovered almost fully from his injuries and had not had a relapse in a couple years, so things were looking good on that front. She had come through her pregnancy without any ill effects, and other than being slightly premature, her babies were happy and healthy. Her daughters were bright, healthy young women. Were there bad things going on at the moment with the disclosure of Jed's MS ? Hell yes, and, they were most probably going to get much worse. But her family was healthy and intact. Her mother was right. The glass was half full. 

**** 

It was still damp and foggy as darkness was settling in over the coast. Jed was relaxing on the porch sipping coffee with his mother, his in-laws, and his staff. Abbey had invited them all over for a meal of homemade creamy clam chowder, dinner rolls, and blueberry pie. 

Abbey had been inside tucking the twins in for the night and came back out onto the porch wearing one of Jed's old worn Notre Dame sweatshirts that was too big for her small frame. She loved wearing his clothes, clothes that had the lingering smell of his soap and aftershave, along with the unmistakable scent that was his alone. She knew that deep inside, in some primitive animal way, she could go blindfolded into a room of men and she would be able to find her mate by scent alone. 

"Abbey, the food was great," CJ said. "The perfect meal for a night like this." 

"Thank you CJ," Abbey said, cupping her warm coffee mug in both her hands, as she moved across the porch to sit next to Jed on the porch swing. "The chowder was my grandmother's recipe." She tucked her legs underneath her cuddling up to her husband's side. As they conversed into the evening, Abbey's head rested on Jed's shoulder and her fingers found their way to the front of his shirt to absently play with the buttons. Jed's hand stroked up and down her arm and he twisted a few strands of her hair around his finger. What was so amazing to Jed's staff, all of whom were single, was the fact that neither was truly conscious of the moves that they were making; it was simply a part of them to want to have that physical contact. 

CJ watched them with some ambivalence. While one part of her was thrilled to see them this way again after all the tension and anger in Manchester, another part of her wondered wistfully what it must be like to share that kind of intimate closeness with a man. She had never been with a man long enough to get to that point. She turned briefly away and her gaze caught Leo off guard. She was surprised to see the same wistful expression on his face that she had. Well, that is, if Leo McGarry could look wistful. Maybe envious was a better term. The look of pure longing in his eyes took CJ by surprise and she began to wonder if it was envy for the relationship his best friend had with his wife and family, or if it was a longing for the woman who was being held in his best friend's arms? Leo caught her gaze and looked down with embarrassment. When he looked back up, CJ could see that the shield was back in place and the wall closing in all his emotions was back on guard. But, for one moment, she had seen the way Leo McGarry really felt. 

Much to everyone's delight, the fog had lifted and the following day dawned sunny, bright, and clear. A perfect day for a clam bake. 

Chapter 10: 

Jed stood with his eldest daughter Elizabeth at the helm of the 'Abigail Anne'. He smiled at the image she made standing at the wheel, the sun shining in her brilliant coppery hair, Abbey's hair. Out of all their daughters it was Elizabeth who resembled Abbey the most. It wasn't just that they shared the same small, slender, curvaceous build, or the same auburn hair, or even the same sea colored eyes. It was the way a small dimple formed in their right cheek when they smiled. It was in the way their brows furrowed when they were angry, and their heads tilted to one side when they were listening intently. It was in the way they often stood with one hip out, in the posture of all mothers who had carried a baby on their hip. 

He remembered the day Elizabeth was born in St. Mary's Hospital in London. Poor Abbey had been through almost 24 hours of sheer hell and was completely wiped out. He had sat by her bedside holding his tiny new daughter, just staring at the incredible miracle they had created, unable to believe that he was really a father. So full of fear and excitement and pride. Beth O'Neill had come in quietly to peer down at her tiny granddaughter, marveling to Jed that she looked exactly like Abbey had when she was a baby. He had looked at his pale, exhausted, sleeping wife, her hair still damp with perspiration, remembering how she had begged him to take his turn pushing their baby out, and he was overcome by a wave of love and compassion for what she had gone through for them. "It's only fair," he had responded, "after all, she is the one who did all the hard work." 

In the years to come he had always found it ironic that the daughter who resembled him most in character was physically a close replica of her mother, while Ellie, the daughter who most resembled Abbey's character, shared more of his physical traits. Genetics were absolutely fascinating. 

**** 

Leo sat to the left of Jed and his daughter, watching the antics of the Bartlets and the staff on the deck. Annie had turned the radio on and the strains of Jimmy Buffett filled the air. Abbey, in a patriotic red, white, and blue bikini top and matching sarong that was tied on the curve of her hip, was dancing to 'Margaritaville' with Josh, while Annie danced with Sam and her father. CJ was trying to get Toby to his feet, but he was looking just a tad green around the gills. Still, it was Abbey who Leo's gaze kept returning to. He couldn't keep his eyes off the sinuous way her shapely body moved to the music. The way her sarong opened to reveal a slender tanned leg and the way she tossed her head back exposing the delicate column of her neck, her long auburn hair spilling down her bare back. The way her breasts filled out the bikini top. When he got that far, he mentally chastised himself to cool it. He'd always found Abbey attractive, but other than that time quite a few years back, he had had learned to keep that attraction hidden. However, from the moment he had heard the Secret Service rumor about what she had done on a moonlight cruise with her husband, and ever since the day they had arrived and he'd heard the soft low moans, breathless urgent gasps, and sexy whimpers she made while having sex, he hadn't found it quite so easy to keep his eyes to himself. He knew things would be easier when they were back in the formality of the White House, but in this relaxed atmosphere he had to watch himself. He had a feeling from her questioning looks that CJ had seen more in his eyes than friendship last night. He needed to keep better control than that. What if it had been Jed that had caught that look in his eyes? He shuddered to think of how Jed would respond to the idea that his closest friend, and trusted Chief of Staff, had lust in his heart for his wife. He didn't want something like this coming between them personally or professionally. As his thought process moved to the President, his best friend, so did his gaze. The President was watching his lovely wife with undisguised delight. But, unlike himself, Jed had every right to have that look. 

"Oh...I really don't feel well," Toby moaned. "I think I'm going to be sick." 

Abbey stopped laughing and dancing, and immediately went into doctor mode. 

"Don't look down at the water," she instructed him. "Look straight ahead at the horizon. We're almost at the island." Toby lifted his head to try and do so and felt his stomach heave. 

"Oh, shit," he moaned and began to retch into the sea, causing everyone but Abbey to back off. Abbey simply continued to rub his back. 

"Didn't you take the Dramamine I gave you this morning?" She asked, her tone slightly accusing. 

"No." 

"And why not?" 

"Sam didn't." 

"Sam has sailed before," Abbey said exasperated. "God, you guys and your male pride, you're all a bunch of jackasses." 

"Don't yell at me, I'm sick," Toby groaned and began to heave again over the side. 

"We're almost there, Toby, just hang on," Jed called out. Toby glanced over miserably at his boss who was bursting with vitality, his face tanned, his thick brown hair streaked by the sun and blowing in the wind and, in that moment, Toby wanted to assassinate him. 

"He looks like fucking William the Conqueror," he muttered. Abbey stifled a laugh, trying to remain sympathetic. 

"Let's go below deck where you can lay down," she said, grabbing a bucket and leading him down. She had him stretch out on her and Jed's bed and began to run a cool compress over his forehead. The compress flew to the other side of the bed when he had to make a quick lunge over the side to retch into the bucket she had placed on the floor. When he was finished and lying back down, Abbey crawled onto the edge of the bed with one knee, leaning over his chest so she could reach for the compress. Toby cracked an eye and realized just how close his face was to the barely clothed breast of the First Lady of the United States. 

"Uh Mrs.Bartlet...you...your..." Abbey looked down and saw what he was referring to. 

"For goodness sakes, Toby, I'm a doctor," she said, grabbing the cloth and straightening up. 

"You may be a doctor, but you are also a woman and..." 

"What's going on in here?" Jed asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes. "You getting fresh with my wife, Toby?" 

"I'd sure try to, sir, if I could lift my head." 

"I'm sorry about all this, but you should have taken the Dramamine." 

"Thanks for telling me that, sir, because I haven't heard that one yet," he groaned sarcastically, then turned to look at Abbey. "Can a person die of seasickness?" Toby asked. 

"No," Abbey smiled sympathetically, "but they sure can feel like they're going to." 

**** 

Once the 'Abigail Anne' was anchored, the men were able to help Toby up on to the deck. As they prepared to depart from the boat, a laughing Ellie and Zoey anchored the 'Zellie' next to them. 

"Well, they look like they're having fun," CJ commented, "I always wished that I had a sister. Ellie and Zoey are pretty close, aren't they?" 

"They have their moments," Abbey smiled. "It wasn't always that way. I remember when I was out to here pregnant with Zoey," she placed her hand far out in front of her stomach, "Jed and Ellie had their hands on my belly feeling her kicking and moving around. I think it finally dawned on Ellie that there really was going to be a new baby. She looked up at us and asked how we were going to get the baby out. Jed went into his usual sputter and stutter and..." 

"Now be nice Abigail," Jed warned, coming up behind her, "I did have the difficult task of being the only male in a house full of girls." Abbey bit her lip to keep from smiling as she thought of all the teasing that he had endured, mainly from her, because of that very fact. Poor Jed, all that hemming and hawing and stalling he did when the girls asked him some innocently embarrassing question. Being the father of three daughters had really been a true learning experience for her husband. 

"I'm always nice, Jed. Now, as I was saying, I could just see Jed going into a huge clinical lecture about where babies come from with my little four year old." 

"But I didn't do that, did I?" 

"No, you didn't, sweetheart," Abbey said, placating him with a rub on the forearm, "I was also impressed that you didn't give her your usual embarrassed mumble and tell her that maybe she should talk to her mother about that." 

"What did you say?" Sam asked him. 

"I just told her that I would have to bring Mommy to the hospital to get the baby. Then she crawled up on my lap and whispered in my ear, in this serious little voice, 'Daddy, please don't bring it home, you can just leave it there.'" 

They all laughed and Jed turned to watch Ellie climbing the ladder onto the boat, remembering how those words had damn near broke his heart. To think that his little girl would believe that he would stop loving her just because they were having another child had hurt. He knew it was foolish but sometimes, despite how Ellie had fallen in love with her baby sister, he wondered if she had ever forgiven him for not doing as she asked and leaving the baby at the hospital. He felt he had never been able to give Ellie all that she needed from him, but it wasn't for lack of trying. 

**** 

"Why does he always get to be a captain?" Toby grumbled from where he sat on a piece of driftwood. He was feeling much better now that Abbey had pumped him with ginger ale and his feet were on solid ground again. 

"He gets to be captain because he is the President," Leo explained calmly. 

"He looks awfully relaxed over there," Sam said, causing them all to turn to eye their boss who was busy putting up the volleyball net with his son-in-law. 

"There is no way possible that he found some Olympic beach volleyball ringer and brought him here to play," Josh said. 

"I wouldn't put it past him to find out that he had one stowing away under the bed," Toby's voice was resigned. "If he did, I hope the guy was under the bed where I was puking." 

"You guys ready to pick teams?" Jed called out. 

"Anytime you are," Toby called back. 

"I'm really not one for volleyball," Leo began. He knew just how competitive Jed and the male members of their staff could be. "I think I'll just sit with a nice glass of lemonade and..." 

"You're playing Leo," Jed said in a voice that brooked no objections. "I'll pick first." His eyes dared Toby to argue with him, but Toby merely shook his head. He had played enough games with Josiah Bartlet to know that arguing with him was like batting your head against the wall. "I'll take Elizabeth," Jed said, surprising them. 

"I'll take Josh," Toby said. 

"CJ," Jed pointed. CJ turned and stuck her tongue out at Sam. 

"CJ!!" Sam exploded, "You're picking CJ over ME!!" 

"She's taller than you. Even if she sucks, she can block the ball." 

"Well, thank you, Mr. President. I think there might have been a compliment in there somewhere." 

When Jed picked Ellie over Jay, Toby and Josh began to exchange truly puzzled looks. 

"How the hell does he think he's going to win with a bunch of girls?" Josh asked snidely. 

"Women, Josh," CJ said, overhearing the remark. "We're a bunch of women." 

Abbey took her place in the back line and served the ball over the net. Josh hit it up to Sam whom, not wanting to hurt one of the girls, sent it lightly over the net. Ellie hit the ball up to Liz who leapt in the air and slammed the ball down in an incredibly hard spike. 

"What the hell was that?" Josh breathed. 

"Don't patronize us, BOYS," Elizabeth grinned smugly while getting high five's from her teammates. 

The kid gloves were off and, on Abbey's next serve, Josh jumped and attempted to spike the ball back but CJ blocked the spike sending the ball back over the net, just out of reach of Sam's diving hands. 

"That's another point for us, BOYS," CJ gloated. 

"We're aware of that," Toby said sharply. 

The next time, the ball went to Zoey who hit it up for Ellie so she could replicate her sister and spike it back over the net. Toby and Josh glared at Jed, who shrugged innocently. 

"Who knew a bunch of girls could be so good?" Jed asked. 

"Oh, I think you did,' Toby said. "Somehow the master hustler took us in again." 

"I resent that comment. I am the President, not a hustler." 

"All due respect, sir," Josh grumbled, "you are a hustler." 

"No, I just took my job as captain seriously. Think about it. CJ went to school on the coast of California, what are the odds that she would have played some beach volleyball?" 

"Pretty good, I'd say," CJ said, slapping his hand. 

"What about Liz, Ellie and Zoey?" Sam asked. 

"Well, they have a played a little bit," Jed conceded. "Elizabeth," he put an arm around his eldest daughter's waist, "played first string at Dartmouth, and Ellie," his other arm went around his middle daughter's waist, "played for Stanford as an undergrad." 

"What about Zoey?" 

"They taught me everything I know," Zoey's smile was one of pure mischief. 

"He did it again," Toby groaned, "he hustled us." 

"The term is outmaneuvered, BOYS, outmaneuvered. Now let's serve the ball so the Bartlet babes can teach you all about the agony of defeat." 

**** 

With the game over and everyone hot and sweaty, they all began to peel off any layers of clothes they had left on over their suits to go for a swim. Jed pulled off his sweat soaked, gray Fighting Irish T-shirt, and looked at his staff puzzled when everyone went quiet. He looked down to see what they were staring at and realized it was the first time anyone had seen the scars on his torso that the bullets had caused. He had been too far away to see them the other day when he was wearing only a towel over his birthday suit. The faded white scars stood out starkly against his deep tan. Especially disturbing to the staff was the long one that ran across his chest where they had had to cut him open to get his heart pumping again. For a moment they were all plunged back to that horrible day when gunshots had sent them running for cover and they had had almost lost the President, their friend. CJ's recollection was particularly horrific, having been in the limousine with the bleeding, dying President who was choking on his own blood, while trying to say his wife and daughter's names. 

"Hey," Jed called out in an overly bright voice, trying to lighten the mood, "last one in gets to have 2 activists on Big Block of Cheese day!" He turned to run into the water with the staff and family not far behind. 

"JESUS CHRIST!" Leo gasped upon hitting the icy cold Atlantic. "This water has to be 50 degrees!!" 

"Actually, today it is a balmy 56," Jed grinned, diving into a wave. 

"How the hell do you swim in this everyday? It's frigid." 

"For crying out loud Leo, you grew up in Boston, not Miami. First you bitch about how cold it is in the winter in New Hampshire, now the water is too cold. There isn't a huge temperature difference between Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. When did you become such a hot house rose?" 

"I didn't get to spend my summers playing in the sun and surf, rich boy," Leo grumbled. The staff all stopped splashing each other and turned to look at the two men with wide eyes. At the White House Leo very rarely talked to the President as his friend, without showing respect to his office. They held their breath waiting for Jed's reaction, but this must have been a familiar refrain between the two because Jed merely started to laugh. 

"You forget, poor boy, I know all about those nights on Revere Beach. Don't tell me you never got to have any sun and surf." 

"Well, on that note, I am going to leave you polar bears to your balmy water and go sit in the sun," Leo grinned. 

"Make sure you put on more sunscreen, Leo," Abbey called out. 

"Yes, ma'am," Leo smiled gently. Her concern for all who were around her was just one of the many reasons he cared so much for Abbey. It wasn't just her looks that drew his attraction. Hell, if the polls were correct, most of the men in the free world admired the First Lady's looks. It was more than that for him. He had known her almost as long as he had known Jed. Had admired the passion she brought to everything she did. Had admired her intellect, her fiery spirit, her sassiness and, God help him, the way she dressed to kill. He admired the openness and ease she had with her own sexuality and relationship with her husband. He admired her strength and the way she was Jed's equal in every way. He admired her caring and loving nature, that was extended to all to whom she was close, but, most especially, to her family. He admired the fierceness that was in her when she was guarding her husband's health, or her children's privacy. He admired what an incredibly wonderful mother she was. The way she had always held and cuddled her children to her and the closeness they still shared. And, most of all, he was envious of the way she looked at her husband when she thought no one was watching. A look that said, no matter what happens, you are the only man for me. Jed was one of the luckiest men on earth to have a woman like Abbey look at him like that. But, Leo couldn't begrudge him for any of it because he also knew that Jed was very aware of just how lucky he was and reciprocated his wife's appreciation in every way that mattered. His eyes were drawn to the water upon hearing Abbey give a loud shriek. He moved to the edge of his chair, but sat back with a rueful smile when he saw Jed pop up from underwater to pull her into his arms. 

"Watch your hands, buster," Abbey said, feeling Jed's hands grasp her buttocks to pull her closer to him. 

"No one can see where my hands are, they're underwater," he said, kissing her forehead and giving her rear a squeeze. 

"Well I guess we're safe, even you couldn't get it up in 50 degree water." 

"56, Abigail, and are you daring me to try?" 

"Forget I said a word," she placed her arms between their stomachs to ease any intimate contact. 

"I can't forget it, you just impugned my manhood. Did you really think I could let you get away with that?" he asked, while running the pad of his thumb over her full bottom lip. 

"Not really," she gave a resigned sigh as he covered her lips with his, his tongue probing for immediate entrance that was at first denied, and then given, as his wife's lower body pressed harder into his. 

"Look at the two of them," Josh said, causing Sam to turn and look at the President and his wife who were wrapped in each other's arms, kissing in the waist deep surf. "This is pathetic. We are single males in the prime of our life, so why is HE the one getting all the action?" 

"He's the one who has a girl," Sam said logically. 

"He told us we could bring any significant others." 

"So why didn't you bring one?" 

"Cause I don't have a girl." 

"Me neither. Like I said, he's the one who has the girl." 

"He certainly does," Josh sighed deeply, watching the First Lady grip the President's shoulders tightly. Damn, he needed a woman. Preferably a woman who looked and kissed like Abbey Bartlet. 

**** 

Jed inhaled deeply as he pulled the lobsters, steamers, and corn from the pit in the sand where they had been steam cooking. There was nothing like an old-fashioned clambake. He looked around at the group of people who surrounded him, looking for driftwood for a late night campfire. His family, and the people who had become some of his closest friends. It was moments like this that he missed more than anything when he was in Washington. When he was at the White House, there was no escaping that he was the President. The only time he was truly free to just be a man was in his bedroom in the Residence with Abbey. And, even then, there was always the chance that he would be pulled away from her arms and back into the maelstrom that came with being the most powerful man on earth. He loved his job and was wearing the cloak of power with more confidence every day, but he was also a human being. And at this time, in this moment, he was relishing just being a husband, a father, and a friend. 

CJ and Abbey heard a strange, very loud, very off-key singing voice coming from behind some blueberry bushes at the edge of the beach. 

"Who in God's name is that?" Abbey asked. 

"Someone who is destroying a perfectly good Rolling Stones song," CJ answered. The singing got louder the closer they got, and as they rounded the bushes, there was Toby Ziegler with an armful of driftwood and a strained look on his face. 

"I can't get no satisfaction, cause I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried, I can't get no..." 

"Uh Toby..." 

"Jesus Christ!" Toby exclaimed, dropping his armful of wood. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that." 

"Well, if you hadn't been singing at the top of your lungs you would have heard us approaching," CJ gave him a smile that told him just how odd she thought he was. 

"Just why were you making all that racket?" Abbey asked. 

"I beg your pardon, ma'am, but that wasn't racket, I was singing. Singing to keep the bears away." 

"The bears?" Abbey asked, puzzled. 

"Yes the President and Zoey said there were..." Toby's eyes moved from Abbey to a grinning Jed, Zoey, and Leo who were now standing behind Abbey and CJ. It was obvious they were trying very hard not to burst into laughter. 

"There are no bears, are there, sir?" Toby rolled his eyes. 

"You fell for the oldest one in the book, my friend," Leo smiled, slapping him on the back, while the others finally burst into laughter. 

"Let me get this straight," CJ said, "you were singing for the bears?" 

"No, I wasn't singing FOR the bears," Toby said exasperated. "I was singing to keep them away. According to the President and his daughter, this time of year the bears come down for the berries and if you sing really loud, they will stay away from you." 

"Jed," Abbey scolded, shaking her head at her husband's little boy mischief making, "you know, I really didn't need a son with having you around. I can only imagine what it will be like when Nicholas gets older and I have two of you." 

"Obviously it was a lie," Toby stated. 

"It wasn't a lie, Toby," Jed said affronted. 

"Technically it wasn't, but in spirit it was," Abbey said. "If we were on the mainland what they said would be true, but, we're 23 miles out to sea, just how did you think the bears would get here?" 

"Et tu Abbey," Toby shook his head. 

**** 

With their lobster and steamer feed finished and the sun having set, the group sat around the campfire on the beach. Annie was toasting marshmallows and making s'mores for everyone. Jed sat on a big driftwood log with Abbey sitting between his legs on the sand. Her head lay sleepily against his knee and he ran his fingers through her hair while they all talked into the evening. CJ watched Leo again, but he was not looking at the First Couple tonight. In fact, other than a few surreptitious glances, he seemed to be studiously avoiding looking at the two, which to her was even more suspicious. She wondered just what the hell was going on with him. 

"Couldn't we just say there is an emergency on the mainland?" Toby was asking. 

"Toby, we are not calling Marine One out here to pick us up," Jed said. "Buck up, you'll be fine." 

"Easy for you to say, you're the goddamn old man in the sea." 

"I resent that, I am not old." 

"Gramps, you want another one?" Annie asked, placing a s'more in his hand. 

"Thanks, Annie," Jed said, but before he could get the graham cracker concoction to his mouth, Abbey had swiped it from his hand. "Hey, that's mine, go get your own." 

"It was yours, now it belongs to someone else," she handed it back to Annie. "You've already had two, and with all that butter with the lobster and steamers, I think you've done enough damage to your cholesterol and digestive tract for one evening." 

"You know, Dr. Bartlet, I could fire you," he sulked. 

"You could fire me as your doctor, but you're stuck with me as your wife, so either way you're out of luck. Now, back to you, Toby. As long as you took the Dramamine, you should be fine for the sail home." 

"And you can take some tomorrow before we go back on the boat fishing," Jed informed him. 

"Fishing," Toby's eyes bugged out. "I am NOT going fishing tomorrow." 

"Sure you are. The blues are running and we are going to have an all guys day. Me, Jay, Leo, Josh, Sam, and you." 

"Count me out. I never want to see another boat again." 

"Do you really want to be left out of the loop?" Jed asked, knowing he had him with that one. CJ pounded the last nail in the coffin with her innocent observation. 

"You can stay with me and Abbey and the girls, and have tea in the gazebo." 

"And help with the babies," Abbey added, " I haven't taught you how to change your goddaughter's diaper yet." Toby's shoulders slumped. He was between a rock and hard place. 

"8:00 am, Toby?" Jed asked. 

"Yes, sir," he said, placing his head in his hands in defeat. 

Chapter 11: 

The wails of a crying infant emanated from the baby monitor for the third time that night. Abbey lay back, waiting for Jed to awaken. She had purposefully put the monitor on the table by his head so he could take his turn getting up. Unfortunately, her husband was oblivious to the move and continued to snore away. Abbey began to prod his shoulder, as their son's cries became more insistent. It never ceased to amaze her that he could sleep through such a racket. 

"Jed," she urged him with her foot, "come on Jed." He merely grunted and rolled away from that offending foot. Obviously bullying him was not going to work and she would have to resort to another tactic. She began to run her fingers softly over his bare butt. He sighed and began to push back against her hand, causing Abbey to smile at his predictability, then give him a sharp little pinch. 

"Hey, what? What the hell?" He jumped up his eyes blinking, his hair standing on end. 

"Your son is calling for you," she sank back down against the pillows. 

"Well, if he's hungry..." 

"Nice try Daddy. Already took care of that. Either his gums are bothering him or he needs a diaper change." 

"You're the doctor, Abigail, maybe you should check him over," he mumbled, trying to sink back against the pillows with her. 

"You are pathetic. I have been up with him twice already and there is nothing physically wrong with him that a little baby ambusol won't cure. It's your turn. GO." 

"Fine," he sighed in defeat, and moved from the bed naked to grab his bathrobe off the chair. His wife was one of the few people who could get away with bossing the President of the United States around. 

"Hey sport, what is all this carrying on about?" Jed asked, lifting his son into his arms and laying him on the changing table. Jed wiped the tears and perspiration from Nicky's face and his screams began to fade to a more manageable crying. He looked up at his father with watery blue eyes as Jed began to change his diaper. "Well, you weren't really wet, is it your teeth, buddy? Mommy said she's already been in here twice tonight, so now you're stuck with me." Jed rubbed the ambusol on his gums, feeling the tiny sharpness of a tooth coming in, then lifted him back up against his shoulder to sit in the rocking chair and rock him. His hand moved soothingly up and down Nicky's back to comfort him and soon he had calmed him to hiccuping sniffles. 

**** 

"Why don't you just call?" Sam asked. "It wouldn't be so bad to wake him up on the phone." 

"I'm not going to call and wake up that whole house at five in the morning," Leo said. "Waking the babies up will only make him more mad." 

"You're probably the only one here he won't fire for going over there," Josh said. 

"I wouldn't be the farm on that," Leo said, and took a deep breath as he headed out the door toward the Bartlet cottage. 

Leo entered the cottage quietly, trying not to wake any of the family members who were peacefully sleeping. None, that is, except the one he was here to rouse. 

"Mr. President," he tapped on the bedroom door lightly. "Mr. President...Abbey." There was a complete lack of movement on the other side of the door. Leo cracked the door open. "Jed...Abbey?" he whispered loudly, but still no movement came from the bed. 

Then, knowing he was taking his life into his hands, Leo entered the bedroom. It couldn't get any worse than this, he thought with a sigh. Well, he amended, remembering the shower stall, not much worse anyway. While both were mostly under the covers, it was very obvious that neither was wearing any nightclothes. Jed was sleeping curled up to Abbey's side, his hand cupped over the sheet that covered her breast. One of Abbey's arms was thrown back over her head, while her other cuddled Jed's head to her chest. One bare, shapely leg lay on top of the sheets between Jed's legs. In the tangle of limbs it was hard to see where one started and the other ended. 

"Mr. President," Leo prodded at his arm, "Jed..." 

"Took my turn," Jed mumbled, "you get him." 

"What?" Leo frowned. "Jed...Jed, wake up," Abbey's eyes fluttered open. She blinked, thinking she saw Leo over Jed's shoulder. Then, her eyes widened with shock, and she pushed Jed's hand off her breast as she jumped up, clutching the rumpled sheet to her chest. She stared at Leo with astonishment, her auburn curls cascading down over her bare shoulders. 

"Leo," she gasped, "what the hell are you doing in here, it's five a.m.!" 

"I'm trying to wake up your husband," he said, but all thoughts of that had been vanquished as he looked at the lovely, disheveled vision she made. 

"That won't be easy, we were up all night." 

"I can see that," he said tongue in cheek. 

"With Nicky," Abbey insisted. 

"God, he sleeps like the dead." 

"Let me try. Jed," Abbey poked at his shoulder "Jed...Wake up." 

"Give me a minute, baby," he murmured sleepily, his hand beginning to run lazily up her bare thigh. "It's early for a continuation of last night but I'm game if..." The rest of his sentence was cut off as Abbey slapped a hand over his mouth with embarrassment. 

"Jed! Leo's here," she hissed. Jed immediately opened his eyes and turned to see Leo at his bedside. 

"That woke him up," Leo grinned. 

"What in the hell are you doing in my bedroom?" Jed's voice was decidedly grumpy. "My wife and I happen to be naked. This is our private domain...our" 

"Sir, I wouldn't have come in here without a good reason. Senator Philbrick had a heart attack last night." 

"How is he?" he asked, the anger being replaced by concern. 

"Critical condition. Now, I know he's been a prick to you and to us in the past but..." 

"I know, Leo. What do you want me to do?" 

"Just give a brief statement to the press. CJ has them all rounded up and Sam has already written it." 

"Ok then, let's go," he started to get out of bed. 

"Jed," Abbey stopped him, grabbing his forearm. 

"What?" He asked impatiently. Abbey lifted the sheets so Jed could glance under. "Oh yeah," he grinned sheepishly, "uh Leo, could you turn around for a moment? It appears that I'd forgotten that I am as naked as a jaybird under here." 

"Yes, sir," Leo smirked, turning around. Just a few more days, he thought. Just a few more days and they would be back in the White House and back to normal. Back to where he would not have to view these intimate situations on quite the daily basis it was becoming on this vacation. Back to when he could get his emotions and his libido under control. 

"Leo," Jed said, while slipping his robe on, "does Philbrick have any immediate family?" 

"A wife and two grown sons." 

"I'd like to get a call to Mrs. Philbrick to let her know our prayers are with her." 

"Yes, sir." Leave it to Jed to go the extra mile, Leo thought. This was a Senator who had called Jed a weak liberal and told voters to run for their pocketbooks when Jed Bartlet came to town. He had called for the President's resignation soon after the MS disclosure and, yet, here was Jed offering prayers. 

"Try to get a few more winks," Jed said, kissing his wife lightly on the lips before leaving the room. 

"I will," Abbey said. But, just as she snuggled back under the covers, soft whimpers began to fill the room. 

"What was that?" Leo asked, looking around. 

"That would be Aislinn and Nicholas letting me know that they are waking up," Abbey sighed, showing him the baby monitor. There was not going to be anymore sleeping this morning. She knew exactly what was coming, and sure enough, just a few seconds later the whimpers had turned to all out crying. So much for a few more winks. "Leo, turn around," she ordered. Leo did so, his body tingling with the notion that Abbey was standing behind him completely naked. Unaware of the control it took him not to turn around, she slipped on her red silk robe and began to leave the bedroom. Leo followed Abbey down the hall to wait while Jed showered. Both babies were crying in full force when they entered the nursery. 

"Sssh...guys, it's ok, let's not wake up the whole house. Momma's here now," Abbey said, while entering the room. She lifted Nicholas up and handed him to a surprised Leo. "If you're going to wait in here, you're going to help me out," she informed him, then turned to pick up Aislinn to hold her gently to her chest. 

"What do you want me to do?" 

"Change his diaper. All the stuff is on the changing table." 

"Abbey, I don't know. It's been 27 years since I've even held a baby, never mind changed one." 

"It hasn't changed, Leo." 

"But...well...I never really...you know...Jenny wasn't working and I was, so I never..." 

"Leo McGarry, are you telling me you never changed Mallory's diaper?" Abbey was obviously shocked. 

"Maybe once or twice," Leo admitted, wondering how Abbey could shame him with this when Jenny had never been able to. 

"I can't believe Jenny let you get away with that." You'd be surprised what Jenny let me get away with Abbey darling, he thought, while watching her begin the process of changing her daughter. "Just lay him on the changing table and do what I do." 

Leo gingerly laid Nicholas on the changing table and began to follow Abbey's lead albeit with less finesse and speed. So far, so good. He had the baby cleaned and his diaper off. As he slid a new clean diaper under Nicky's bottom, he stopped to sneak a peek at the way Abbey's robe separated, offering him a revealing view of the swell of one creamy breast. He knew that Abbey didn't have any idea of how he felt. This was just a normal morning for her, although it was one she usually shared with her husband. But, for one moment, he was being permitted to feel what it would be like to be married to her and share a family with her. As his mind wandered, a thin stream of urine arched over Nicholas's small body to splatter on Leo's tie. 

"Oh shit," he exclaimed. "Nicholas just peed on me. How'd that happen?" 

"He's a boy," Abbey laughed. "You have to hold the edge of the diaper over him while you change him." 

"You didn't." 

"I was changing a GIRL. You don't have to worry about that piece of anatomy on a girl." 

"You ready?" Jed asked, entering the baby's room while snapping on his wristwatch. 

"Yeah, let's go." Leo handed Nicholas to Abbey. 

"Why is your tie all wet?" Jed asked. 

"Your son peed on me, Mr. President." 

Jed's booming laugh filled the room. "Abbey got you changing diapers, did she? Don't feel bad, he did that to me too a few times in the beginning, before I got used to changing a boy," Jed admitted. "Having a boy is a whole new ball game." 

By the time Jed returned from giving his statement to the press, his brood had awakened. He stood for a moment in the doorway and watched the chaos that was his family. The TV blared music videos from VH1 and Annie was arguing with Liz over the volume. Zoey and Ellie were singing to the music while they flipped blueberry pancakes and fried bacon. Abbey walked around the kitchen supervising the cooking of breakfast with a crying Aislinn on her hip. Beth was seated in front of the high chair trying to coax Nicholas to eat his baby cereal while Emily simply sat next to her at a loss for words. It wasn't long before Abbey's sharp eyes spotted him. 

"Thank God you're back," she said, moving quickly toward him to hand off his crying daughter to him. "I want to cut up some melon." 

"Don't you think it's a little early to be making this much noise?" he asked, while trying to get Aislinn to accept the pacifier that she kept spitting out angrily into his hand so she could cry louder. "Come on sunshine, stop crying and give Daddy a smile." Aislinn stopped for a moment at the sound of her father's voice, then continued to wail away. 

"This is exactly what you wanted," Abbey informed him as she pulled cantaloupe from the refrigerator. 

"Me?" 

"Yes, you. Don't you remember when we were dating and I asked you about your dreams for the future? You didn't say you wanted to be a professor or a President. You said you wanted to have a big, noisy, loving family. Well, look around, Daddy. You got it." 

Jed smiled looking around at all these vocal, uninhibited, mostly female people who shared he and Abbey's blood. 

"We did good, Abs," he said, squeezing her hand while he kissed the top of Aislinn's blond head. 

"Yeah, we did," she said, grabbing Aislinn's little hand which was reaching out for her favorite pastime, yanking Mommy's hair out, and kissed her tiny little fingers. 

**** 

Because they felt it wouldn't look proper to be off having fun fishing after their somber morning statement, the fishing trip was put off until the following day. Instead, the guys all stopped in to see if Jed wanted to go golfing with them. 

"He's down on the beach looking for sand dollars with Annie," Abbey told them without looking up from spooning cereal into her daughters mouth. "But, you know, he probably won't go." 

"Why does he dislike golfing so much?" Sam asked. "He likes pretty much every other sport known to man." 

Abbey's glance fell on the picture of her father-in-law that graced the wall. John Bartlet had loved to golf and had often brought young Jed with him to the course, where he proceeded to berate and belittle him, until Jed had grown to despise the game. 

"He has his reasons," she said softly, "but he'll have to explain those to you." The men accepted her response and turned to go look for their boss. Abbey's gaze fell back on the picture and she had to swallow past the anger she often felt when it came to that man. 

"John, you really were a son of a bitch at times," she said sadly, as always, aching for the boy who had later become her husband. Although John had always treated her fairly, if not warmly, she had never really been able to forgive him for what he had done to Jed as a child and as a teenager. 

Abbey entered the nursery to dress Aislinn and saw Elizabeth sitting rocking Nicholas with a look of pure longing on her face. 

"Liz?" 

"He's all dressed, Mom," she said, her gaze moving from her baby brother to her mother. 

"You know," Abbey said gently, "Annie keeps telling me how much she wants a baby brother or sister. Have you and Jay thought about having another child?" Abbey watched her daughter's eyes fill with tears. 

"We've been trying, but so far, no luck." 

"Oh honey, don't worry. It takes time. It doesn't always happen when you want it to." 

"I thought for sure once we started trying, it would happen right away." 

"You've been on the Pill for awhile, haven't you?" 

"Yes, since we got married." 

"Well, sometimes it takes a little longer to conceive after you go off the Pill." 

"You were on the Pill when you got pregnant with Ais and Nicky. I mean one week without them and bam, you were knocked up. I mean, if I have your genes, I should be pretty fertile." 

"Why would you say that? I don't have an excessive amount of children." 

"Yes, but exactly how many of your pregnancies have been planned?" 

"Elizabeth Bartlet, I'll have you know that all my pregnancies except for you and the twins were planned." 

"And how long did it take you to get pregnant once you started trying?" 

"A couple months with Ellie and a couple more than that for Zoey. I think it was almost 7 or 8 months for Peter. I remember tracking your Dad down at the Statehouse to let know my temperature was up and I was ovulating." Liz smiled at the image of her mother racing down the halls of the Statehouse with a thermometer in hand, then her face crumpled. 

"It's been almost TWO years, Mom," she began to cry. 

"Oh honey," Abbey moved forward to wrap Elizabeth in her arms, "Sssh...don't cry. Have you seen a doctor? It sounds like this might be something medical." 

"I've been to see one, but since I had Annie, I had a feeling it wasn't me. Dr. Walsh gave me a clean bill of health, but Jay refuses to go. I think he's afraid to be told he has a low sperm count because that will reflect badly on his virility." 

"That's absurd," Abbey exclaimed, "Sperm count or mobility has nothing to do with virility. Would you like me talk to him about it?" 

"Somehow I don't think Jay would appreciate discussing his sperm count with his mother-in-law." 

"Would you like me to ask your Dad to talk to him?" 

"No!" Liz said aghast. "That's an awful choice Mom. Mr. Cock of the walk Bartlet thinks it is his virility alone that got you pregnant with twins at his age." 

"I suppose you're right," Abbey sighed. She remembered back to the months after Peter's miscarriage when Jed had informed her that there wouldn't be anymore babies, for fear of what she had gone through. She was sick of the hassle of taking the Pill and a diaphragm was an even bigger hassle, so she had suggested Jed have a vasectomy. She almost laughed aloud remembering the look of shock and panic he had given her. Nobody was messing with Jed Bartlet 'down there'. She had toyed with the idea of having her tubes tied, but that was too final, too permanent. Although she had agreed to no more babies, in the back of her mind, there was still a chance if they changed their minds. Now, she was glad she had gone back to the hassle of the Pill, as she had two more beautiful children to show for it. Not a great advertisement for what it was supposed to prevent, but, well, accidents happen. 

"How is Jay dealing with all this?" Abbey asked, her mind now on the fragility of the male psyche. 

"By ignoring that there is a problem. I know he loves Annie with all his heart, but she isn't of his blood. I know he wants to have a child of his blood and I want to give him that child. I see him looking at Daddy with Aislinn and Nicky and it just breaks my heart." 

"Honey, you have to stop worrying," she pushed Elizabeth's hair back from her tear stained face to look into her eyes. "Sometimes you just need to relax and it will happen. I've heard several stories of women who can't get pregnant so they adopt and then when the pressure is off they end up conceiving." 

"I'll try. But it's so hard month after month to look at that evidence that there won't be a baby." The pain in Elizabeth's voice caused a lump to form in Abbey's throat. There was nothing worse than when your child was in pain and there was nothing you could do to help but be there. 

"Try to get Jay to open up. If you can at least determine what the problem is, there are some wonderful fertility clinics that could help you." 

"You mean like in vitro?" 

"There have been huge advances made in this field." 

"But, that's against the Church." 

"So is birth control and you don't see me with 15 kids," she smiled ruefully, "which, you know, is damn well what would have happened without using birth control. Seriously though, if you really want to have another baby, you do everything you can to accomplish that. Don't let the Church or the press or anything get in your way. Nothing can be more precious than holding the child of the man you love in your arms," she glanced down tenderly at Nicholas. "I want that for you sweetie," she ran her hand over Elizabeth's cheek and both their eyes filled again with tears at what had been left unsaid. That Liz had not even experienced that with Annie due to the circumstances of her conception. "And, if it doesn't happen, well, at least you are blessed with Annie." 

"Thank God for Annie," Elizabeth's face softened into a smile at the thought of her beautiful, precocious daughter. "When I think about how I almost aborted her, it makes me physically ill." 

"Don't think like that, Liz. You were so young and something horrible had happened to you. You were weighing an option, that's all. But, I'm glad you chose to have her, too. She's been a blessing to all of us." 

"Gram!! Mom!!! Come quick!" yelled the subject of their conversation as she came racing up the stairs. "Gramps got stung by a jellyfish." 

"Never a dull moment," Abbey sighed to herself, then called out to Annie, "Get my medical bag!" 

Chapter 12: 

Abbey, Christ, that's cold," Jed flinched, as Abbey placed the metal disc of her stethoscope on his bare chest. "If you had any bedside manner at all, you would have warmed it first." 

"Jed, hush," Abbey admonished him, while listening intently to his heart. 

"Abbey, it's my leg that got stung. Why are you listening to my heart?" 

"Jed, will you be quiet for just two minutes?" She snapped the stethoscope out of her ears and placed her fingers against his throat checking for any swelling. "Are you having any trouble swallowing?" 

"No," he rolled his eyes. 

"Any difficulty breathing?" 

"No. Abbey, dammit, my leg is on fire. Why are you messing around with my chest?" 

"Because you've never been stung before and some people experience anaphylactic shock from the venom." Annie, who was seated on the floor of the porch holding Jed's hand, looked at Abbey fearfully. 

"What's that?" Annie asked. "Is Gramps going to be ok?" 

"He'll be fine," Abbey squeezed her granddaughter's hand reassuringly. 

"I am fine, honey," Jed kissed the top of her head. 

"Here's the vinegar and water you asked for," Liz said, handing the container to her mother. 

"What the heck is that going to do?" Jed asked. 

"Are you going to question everything I do for you?" Abbey asked exasperated. 

"Hey, it's my leg. I'm a little interested." 

"If there are any tentacles left in your leg, the vinegar and water solution will kill them." She lifted Jed's foot onto her lap, frowning at the angry red burn mark on his calf. "Oh Jed," she shook her head, "leave it to you to go for a walk on the beach and get stung by a jellyfish. How did it happen?" 

"It was my fault, Gram. We were wading at the edge of the surf looking for sand dollars and I saw a really big one, but before I could get it a wave took it. Gramps went after it for and the jellyfish got him on the leg." 

"It's ok, honey," Abbey smiled. "Could you run in and get me a glass of water so I can give your Granddad some Benadryl?" 

"Ok," Annie raced off. 

Abbey took the vinegar solution and looked up into Jed's eyes. 

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" He asked. 

"I'm afraid so," she said apologetically. 

"That's why you made Annie leave." 

"She feels bad enough. I don't want her to see you any worse than she already has." 

"Here Dad, take my hand," Liz said, offering him her hand to hold. Abbey wished there were a gentle way to go about doing this, but there wasn't. She held his leg firmly and poured the vinegar over the burn. She felt Jed's entire body contract at upon contact. The searing, burning pain worked its way up his leg and he threw his head back with a deep groan of agony. Abbey bit her lip and held her breath, hating to see him in such pain. 

"I'm so sorry, babe," she said, noting the ashen quality to his skin and the beads of perspiration on his forehead. 

"S'ok," he bit out. 

"You're going to feel better in a minute. I'm putting some witch hazel on which should help take away the burning sensation. Ahh, and here is your water." She handed him two Benadryl pills and all three of them helped him to the wicker couch. 

"I want you to lay here and relax for awhile," Abbey told him, placing a pillow under his leg to elevate it. "If you have any difficulty swallowing or breathing, you call me." 

"Yes Doc. Now don't I get a lollipop or something?" 

"I'm not a pediatrician, Jed." 

"Well, a doctor should give her patient some kind of reward." 

"How is this?" She leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. 

"I better be the only patient you reward that way," he warned. "I only meant a cookie or something." 

"Well, if you would prefer a cookie." 

"No, no. I'll take a kiss over a cookie any day." 

"I thought so," Abbey smiled. "Now I am going to finish dressing our children since Izzy has today off too and I don't want to see you off that couch." 

"I will follow doctor's orders, scout's honor," he put up two fingers in a scout salute. 

"That would be a first," Abbey muttered under her breath as she turned to go inside. 

"Want me to stay and keep you company?" Annie asked him. 

"Nah, I'm fine. Now, get that guilty look off your face and go do something fun. I'm just going to take a little nap since I was so rudely awakened before dawn this morning. This wasn't your fault, Annie. Really." 

**** 

Abbey lay back in her lounge chair sipping her frozen piña colada and inhaling the scent of the beach roses that surrounded she and her female group of friends and family. Jane had just returned from Boothbay, Sally from Wolfeboro, and Jenny had just arrived with her new boyfriend Jeffrey along with Mallory. 

The day had dawned sunny and bright. The perfect day to go fishing, much to Toby's dismay. He had been praying all night for one of those famous nor'Easters he'd heard so much about. Once the men had left to go fishing, the girls and Mallory decided to go blueberry picking, while Beth and Emily were spending the day antiquing. So, Abbey was enjoying a relaxing afternoon with the women close to her. It was rare that she was able to do this anymore. She and her girlfriends used to get together at least once a month for lunch or dinner to keep in touch and, because she and Millie had been on staff Boston Mercy together, they had often lunched and shopped in Boston together. But, ever since she had become First Lady, things had been much different. Even some of her closest friends had begun to treat her differently, more formally. And while she tried to phone and email them to keep in touch, it wasn't the same as getting together in person. But, these women here were all women she trusted. Women she could be herself with. What was amazing was that they could all click despite being so different. The only thing they had in common was the fact that they were all women, and of course, Abbey, the woman whose anniversary they were all here to share. 

"Well, I have to say, this is better than the tea party you were telling Toby about," CJ said, lifting her glass to Abbey. 

"If I had told him we were all going to sit around getting drunk on piña coladas, he might have wanted to stay," Abbey smiled, then turned to Jenny. "Are you sure Jeffrey is all right at the hotel? I feel bad about the whole fishing thing, but I didn't think it would be a good idea for he and Leo to be together on the boat." 

"No, he'll be fine. You were right about that. And did you see Jed's face when I walked over with Jeffrey? I swear Abbey, he wanted to brand me with a scarlet A." 

"It's going to take him a while to get used to you with someone who isn't Leo. You know how old fashioned he is." 

"Only too well. If he knew we were sharing a room, he'd probably blow a gasket." 

"Jenny, you didn't tell me things had progressed to that point. You're sleeping with him?" 

"Why the funny face? I'm a responsible grown woman." 

"Oh, I know that Jenny. I wasn't condemning you. It's just weird for me. You've been with Leo almost as long as I've known you. Wasn't it strange after being with only one man for decades to sleep with someone else?" Abbey couldn't imagine what it would be like to share that kind of intimacy with any man other than Jed. 

"It was at first. I kept feeling like I was doing something wrong, like I was cheating on Leo. But to be honest, my sex life with Leo was pretty much non-existent by the end, so it was nice to regain that part of my life. It's wonderful to be back in a relationship where I actually matter to a person." 

"You mattered to Leo," Abbey said sadly. 

"Just not enough. Now, enough about that, let's talk about the anniversary party, after all I am partially responsible for getting you and Jed together." 

"You are?" CJ asked, then turned to Abbey. "How did you two meet? He told me on a trip once that he was thinking about becoming a priest until he met you. Is that true?" 

"Yes it is," Abbey grinned, "Can you believe it? Jed Bartlet, a priest?" 

"Ugh, no," CJ laughed, "After watching you two together, I find it completely unbelievable that he would have thought of becoming a priest." 

"Well, to be honest, he was mainly doing it to please his mother and piss off his father. Jed's father never respected the rest of the family's religious beliefs and when Jed turned down the ivy league to go to the Notre Dame seminary, it damn near killed him. It was exactly the reaction Jed wanted. Anyway, by the time I met him he was a junior and was rethinking his whole career choice." 

"I worked in Father Flynn's office at the seminary with Jed," Jenny explained. "We had become good friends." But not as good as I had wanted, she thought with a sigh. "Anyway, I could see how depressed he was over realizing he didn't exactly have the calling the other seminary students had, and that his choice had been made for all the wrong reasons, so I suggested he go with me to a party I had been invited to on campus." 

"And let me guess, you were there?" CJ smiled at Abbey. 

"Yes, I had just broken up with Ron Ehrlich that week. We had been dating for some months and I thought I was in love with him. I didn't even know what love was," she laughed, shaking her head and suddenly she was transported to that frat party where she had broken up with Ron so many years ago. 

(South Bend, Indiana) 

She was standing outside raging with fury, while the party went on inside. 

"Honey, what are you doing out here? Are you upset?" Ron asked. 

"Upset? Of course I'm upset, Ron. You just told a whole roomful of people just what our life would be like after we got married." 

"What's wrong with that?" 

"Ron, you haven't even asked me to marry you, we have never even discussed it. You just assume I am going to want to marry you." 

"I guess I did. We've been going together for almost a year now." 

"Six months." 

"Nine months, Abbey. I guess I just assumed marriage would be the next step." 

"That's the problem, Ron. You didn't take me into consideration. You never do. I have dreams and plans for the future but you don't want to hear about those, do you?" 

"This is about a couple weeks ago when I wanted to sleep with you, isn't it?" 

"You did sleep with me. If you remember correctly, you made me so late I couldn't get back into my dorm, I had to spend the night with you." 

"Ok then, when I wanted to have sex with you." 

"And I tried to tell you I wasn't ready, but because your roommate was gone, you felt it was the perfect night." 

"And it would have been if you had just given in." 

"You didn't have any birth control." 

"I think that was just an excuse. You didn't want to go through with it to begin with." 

"No, I didn't, but you pushed me. You called me a cocktease. You made me feel like there was something wrong with me because I didn't want to have sex with you and take a chance on getting pregnant. And maybe there is something wrong with me. Maybe I don't love you. Because tonight when you talked about getting married I didn't feel happy, I felt suffocated. I really think we need to take some time apart and see what we really want." 

"I know what I want Abbey. I want you." 

"Well, I'm not sure I want you anymore. I've just been feeling more and more smothered lately. I'm not happy. I'm twenty years old, Ron. I want to be happy." 

"I could make you real happy," he smiled lasciviously and ran his fingers over her collarbone. 

"This has nothing to do with sex, Ron," she slapped his hand away. "Can't you understand that?" 

"You'll come running back to me. Mark my words Abbey, I'm not going to let you go without a fight," he stormed away. 

(Maine) 

"Oooh, this is getting good," CJ rubbed her hands together. "Did you meet the President soon after this?" 

"About two weeks later. Ron did not take our separation well. He called me everyday and didn't like taking no for an answer. I really was beginning to think there was something wrong with me. Ron was a good guy, we had been dating for a long time. Why couldn't I love him, or want him? Was there something emotionally wrong with me? I guess Millie got sick of me moping around about this stuff so she dragged me to some party she had been invited to. I really didn't want to go. I just went to shut her up. Anyway, I was just going inside after getting some fresh air when I literally bumped into Jed in the doorway. He grabbed my arms to steady me and I looked up into the most beautiful, bluest eyes I have ever seen. I can't explain it, but when his eyes met mine that first time, there was just some kind of connection or recognition, even though we had never met. You should have seen him then, CJ. He is incredibly handsome now, but back then he was like some wild poet. All this shaggy long tawny hair and those bluer than blue eyes that just radiated humor and intelligence." 

"Long hair?" CJ laughed. 

"Well, fairly long. To his collar anyway. He was hardly a rebel, but this was the sixties after all. Anyway, we just sat and started to talk. He was so full of fire and purpose. And he listened to me. Really listened to me. He wanted to know all about what my plans for the future and was truly interested and impressed by them. That was something new for me. Ron always seemed to brush my interests aside. Jed asked me out and, on that first date, I realized he was not like anyone I had ever met before. He could quote poetry, baseball stats, literature, and the stock market with equal enthusiasm. I had dated intelligent men before. Ron was an intelligent man. But Jed was like some kind of Renaissance man. He was completely interested in everything. He seemed to absorb knowledge. Ron just totally paled in comparison. And, on top of that, my physical attraction to him was like nothing I had ever experienced before. When he kissed me goodnight that first time, it was so incredible it made my toes curl. I had never felt about any man the way I found myself feeling about Jed. I remember looking at him and wondering what it would be like to grow old with him, to make a baby with him. It didn't take me long to realize that I had never been in love with Ron, because love was what I felt for Jed, and it was the most amazing experience I had ever had." 

"So, did you know he was planning on becoming a priest?" 

"When he first told me that, I felt my whole world falling apart. I'm a Catholic and the fact that I was falling in love with a man who was studying to be a priest did not go over well with me. But he was very honest about it. He explained he had been having second thoughts for a long time about the whole 'calling' thing and after meeting me at the party, before we even had our first date, he had dropped out of the seminary. Later he told me that he knew right then at the party that he was going to do whatever he could to spend the rest of his life with me." 

"You must have made quite an impression for him to drop out after just meeting you." 

"Oh, yes she did," Jenny said, "after that party, it was Abbey this and Abbey that. The man was absolutely besotted." 

"Well, he made quite an impression on me too. Now, who needs another piña colada?" 

"You can't quit there," CJ complained. "Whatever happened with Ron?" 

"All in good time, CJ." 

**** 

Far out at sea on the deck of the 'Abigail Anne', with the tinny sounds of the Red Sox baseball game on the radio for entertainment, Josh began to dig in the cooler. 

"Anyone want another beer?" He asked. 

"I'll take one," Jed called out. Josh looked up at the President in his shorts and t-shirt, his Sox baseball cap drawn down over his forehead, fishing pole in hand. He looked like any other average guy out fishing, but this was the President. Sometimes he found it hard to reconcile the two. 

"Mr. President, can we switch stations and listen to the Mets for a while?" Toby asked, knowing what the answer would be. 

"My boat, my team," Jed answered simply. He then turned to Leo who was sitting beside him. "Are you still sulking?" He asked. 

"I am not sulking, I'm reflecting." 

"You're sulking. You've been sulking ever since Jenny arrived with that guy." 

"Jeffrey," Leo sneered, "What kind of a name is Jeffrey? Sounds a little effeminate to me." 

"You're jealous," Jed grinned. 

"I am not jealous. And what about you? You didn't exactly extend the welcome wagon to him. I saw the looks you were giving them, and the kicks Abbey was giving you." 

"You know how I feel about Jenny. She is like a sister to me. If it wasn't for her, I might never have met Abbey," Jed gave an involuntary shudder at the thought. 

"Mrs. McGarry introduced you?" Josh asked. "I thought you met her at a party?" 

"I did, it was Jenny who dragged my ass to that party." 

"Was it love at first sight?" Sam asked. 

"More like lust, I bet," Josh grinned. 

"Hey, you boys be careful what you say," Michael warned. "That's my little girl you're talking about." 

"Actually," Jed said, "the first time I saw her was across a crowded room. She was standing with a group of friends wearing this really short mini skirt and leather boots and her hair was all the way down to her waist. She was gorgeous. Sexy as hell. Sorry Michael, but she was. Still, what really caught my eye was the way she was laughing and making everyone else around her laugh. I remember thinking, my God if I could meet someone who could laugh with me like that I would spend the rest of my life with her." 

"Did you go talk to her?" Toby asked. 

"Nah. I was too chicken. But later I bumped into her as she was coming back inside." 

"Knowing you, I take it you mean literally 'bumped' into her?" Josh grinned. 

"Yes, smart ass. I literally bumped into her. I reached my hands out to steady her and she looked up at me with those amazing sea colored eyes and it was all over for me. I mean it was crazy, one minute I was just walking along and in the next instant I had fallen into this infatuation so hard I couldn't see straight. She was just 20 years old, but brimming with ambition and idealism. Did you know she is so incredibly intelligent that she skipped a grade in junior high school?" 

"I think I read that on a press release," Toby said, giving a half smile at Jed's boastful pride in his wife. 

"She wanted to join the Peace Corps after medical school, so she could go make a difference in an impoverished country." 

"Why didn't she?" Sam asked. 

"Me," Jed said softly. "She fell in love with me and, by the time she got to medical school, we already had Elizabeth." 

"She never regretted it," Michael said, patting his shoulder. Jed smiled up at his father-in-law. He knew exactly what Michael meant. That she hadn't regretted getting pregnant with Elizabeth before they were ready, but Jed already knew that. After her initial misgivings, Abbey had wanted the baby with all her heart. 

**** 

"Ok, where were we?" Abbey asked passing out fresh piña coladas all around. 

"You were going to tell us what happened with Ron." 

"Oh yeah. Well, like I said, Ron had been bugging me. Calling me up and bumping into me on campus. I really think he thought that I was just angry and once I got over it I would go back to him. I couldn't even get through to him by telling him that I was seeing someone else. But to tell you the truth, once I met Jed, I didn't even see Ron. I mean he could be standing right in front of me and I just honestly did not care what he had to say. His words meant nothing to me. I was completely caught up in the web of new love." 

"So, what did he do when he found out about you and Jed?" Sally asked. 

"I'm getting there, be patient. Jed and I were having dinner at a Chinese restaurant when Ron and some of his friends came in. Jed was in the restroom and Ron came swaggering over to my table." 

(South Bend, Indiana) 

"Hey sweetheart, you here all alone?" Ron asked with a smile. 

"As a matter of fact, I'm not." 

"Come on Abbey, when are you gonna get over this little tiff? I've been duly punished for pushing you. Come on baby, let's kiss and make up, you know you miss me," he grabbed her arm, pulling her to him for a kiss. 

"Ron, stop," Abbey pushed against him. She then heard Jed's steely voice coming from beside her. 

"If you don't want to lose that arm, you better let go of her right now." Ron let go of her arm in surprise and Abbey stepped close to Jed's side. Jed wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his body. Anger boiled in Ron as the movement spoke of intimacy and the fact that Abbey was choosing this guy over him. The two young men eyed each other with undisguised animosity. 

"Who the hell are you?" Ron asked. 

"I told you I was seeing somebody else, Ron. This is my boyfriend, Jed Bartlet." 

"Your boyfriend?" Ron scoffed "I hope you know, buddy, that you are just some rebound guy. She was my girlfriend up until a few weeks ago. You're nothing to her." 

"He is everything to me, Ron," Abbey snapped. "I am in love with Jed and the sooner you get that through your thick head, the better." Ron didn't know what to say to that. Abbey did not throw around words like love. In all the time they had dated, she had never told him she loved him. 

"Well, you aren't getting much, she's nothing but a little cocktease," Ron said with disgust, but before he could turn away Jed's arm came out like a flash and he punched him in the face. Ron fell back on the floor, his hands pressed to his head. 

"Don't you ever talk to Abigail with anything but respect from now on," Jed seethed. He acted nonchalant, but as soon as he and Abbey stepped outside into the night he began to shake his hand. 

"Jed, let me see your hand," Abbey said with concern. 

"I've never punched anyone before. It hurts." 

"It looks like you got some teeth," she said, eyeing the raw patches on his knuckles. She surprised him by pressing her lips to his wounds. "Nobody has ever fought for my honor before. Thank you." 

"Did you mean what you said inside?" 

"Mean what?" 

"You told Ron that you love me." 

"I know it's awfully soon for feeling like that. But, I can't help it, Jed. I am falling in love with you." Abbey watched his eyes fill with tears. "What is it Jed?" 

"It's just that, nobody's ever really told me that before." 

"Not even your parents?" Abbey asked, astonished. 

"Not even my parents. We never used that word in my house." 

"It's ok, you don't have to say it just because I did. I don't want you to say it until you really mean it." She thought of all those nights when she and Ron were getting hot and heavy and he would tell her he loved her just to try to get into her pants. He never said it at any other time. 

"Abigail O'Neill," Jed lifted her chin to look deep into her eyes, his thumb running tenderly over her jaw, "I am falling deeply and inexorably in love with you." Abbey's eyes filled with tears and she tilted her head back melting into his body as his lips covered hers. 

(Maine) 

"Wow, now that is an amazing story," CJ slurred. 

"You're getting drunk, Claudia Jean," Abbey smiled. 

"Guilty. I want to hear the rest now. You guys didn't get married until you graduated, so when did the President propose?" 

"I'll tell you inside," Abbey said standing up and stretching. "The guys should be back in a little bit so we should get moving on the salads. After all, we promised that if they hunted, we would gather." 

"Somehow it makes me nervous to think that we would have had to rely on that group to provide us with food in the caveman days." 

"Why do you think I defrosted some steaks? " 

Once ensconced in the kitchen, with everyone cutting up vegetables, Abbey continued on with her story. 

"We had only been dating a few months when it came time for summer break. That summer of separation was really hard." 

"But you only live about an hour apart. Didn't you visit each other?" 

"We could have, except that Jed had already signed on to go with the Jesuits to do some teaching on an Indian reservation in Arizona and I had promised my Dad I would help out at his practice. So there we were, missing each other like crazy. I think I wrote him a letter almost every night and received them just as often. Anyway, in the fall, we picked things up where we left off. We were inseparable. God, I used to love to sit under a blanket with him at the home football games, cheering Notre Dame on. And of course fighting off his wandering hands," she smiled. 

"I knew the President was a big fan, I didn't realize you were as well." 

"I am a fan, CJ, I am just not the complete fanatic my husband is for our alma mater. I actually have clothes that say Harvard as well as Notre Dame. You don't see him wearing anything with a logo advertising the London School of Economics, do you?" 

"Do they even have a team for anything? I mean think of it," she giggled. "A bunch of nerdy little economic students on the playing fields. Wouldn't that be a sight?" 

"Hey, I want to hear the rest of the story," Sally said. In spite of the fact that they were sisters-in-law and got only very well, Sally and Abbey had never had enough in common to be close enough to reveal the intimate details of their lives. That was why she had never heard the complete Jed and Abbey story before. 

"Well, after Christmas break, I had to go do an early internship program at Johns Hopkins and that evidently got Jed thinking. He had been accepted to the LSE and I had been accepted into Harvard Med. So, that meant at least a two year separation." 

(Bartlet farm, Easter break) 

Jed had not been himself all day. He had not commented on the Easter service and had been silent throughout the big Easter dinner. Abbey attributed it to being home with his family. He always seemed to be a little less himself around them. But, when he asked her to go for a walk so they could talk, her heart began to slam in her chest. Was he going to break up with her? Had he had enough of the absences? Did he think they couldn't make it through a two year long distance relationship? They silently walked hand in hand across the pastures to the pond. Abbey knew this was Jed's favorite spot in the world. The place he always came to think. She sat quietly gazing over the water waiting for Jed to tell her what was on his mind. Finally, he turned to her. 

"Abbey, this past semester has been really hard for me. I missed you so much that I could barely concentrate. And last summer was just hell." 

"I know Jed," she said, "I missed you too. I feel like a part of me is missing when I'm not with you." 

"I just don't think I can make it two years in London without you." 

"Jed, are you breaking up with me?" Abbey asked through tears. 

"What!" he exclaimed, "no, God no. Damn, I'm not doing a very good job of this." He stood up from the bench and proceeded to go down on one knee in front of her. "I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my life Abbey. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you and making you happy. I want to grow old with you and have children with you. Please say you'll marry me." Jed didn't realize he was holding his breath until Abbey cupped his face in her hands. 

"Of course I'll marry you, Jed. I thought you'd never ask." His breath came out in a whoosh and he clumsily dragged her into his arms kissing her deeply. 

"Oh wait, I've got something for you," he dug in his pocket and handed her an obviously old velvet box. She opened it to see a gorgeous intricate antique diamond ring. "It was my grandmother's, and her grandmother's before her, but if you don't like it, we can go pick out something more modern." 

"Sssh," she placed her fingers over his lips. "I love it. It's beautiful and old fashioned, just like you." Jed slid the ring on her slender finger and Abbey moved it to catch the sunlight. It felt very right to have on a ring that had belonged to so many Bartlet women before her. It made her feel like she was already a part of Jed. For his part, Jed felt a wave of possessive love seeing his ring on her finger. He took her hand and kissed the finger that held his ring. 

"You'll never take it off?" 

"Not until I have a gold band to go with it." 

(Maine) 

"So, what did you do about school?" CJ asked. 

"I decided to defer my enrollment for two years so I could go to London with him." Abbey took another sip of the wine she had switched to, then turned to CJ. "Oh hell CJ, you know the official version of this story, but everyone here knows the truth. You may as well know it too. I didn't start medical school because I got pregnant." 

"Ah, so Elizabeth wasn't premature?" 

"No, I was just lucky she was a tiny baby so people accepted that little white lie. Jed and I had planned on marrying that summer and I was going to attend medical school at Cambridge. I had gotten a late acceptance. But fate stepped in." 

"More like lust," Jane grinned. 

(Bartlett farm, Easter break) 

"Abbey," Jed said, breaking out of her embrace to catch his breath, "we have to stop now, or I may not be able to." They had left the pond and were now in the barn preparing to go horseback riding. 

"Let's not wait anymore," she pressed her lips against his. 

"Do you know what you're saying?" he asked against her mouth. 

"Mmmhmmm," she murmured. "I know I'm the one who wanted to wait, but realistically, if I hadn't gone to Johns Hopkins, we would have probably made love by now. This hasn't been easy on either of us. I know you've had your share of cold showers." 

"Don't do this because of me Abbey. If you want to wait until we get married, we'll wait. I'm not saying it's going to be easy" he gave her a painful grin, "and I may have to go jump in the pond..." 

"Jed, I don't want to wait anymore. I want you to make love to me. I'm tired of being a good girl, Josiah." She gave him a new saucy smile, that she would perfect over the years to the point of being able to get him to do almost anything when she flashed it. 

"Ok, then," he said moving to grab the horse blanket that was lying over the stall. "I just never pictured our first time being an actual roll in the hay." 

"When have we ever done things predictably?" Abbey asked, stretching out on the blanket. She reached a hand up to Jed to pull him down with her and his stomach began to flutter with nerves. He had only had sex three times in his life and one of those times was with a hooker Leo's Dad had gotten them in Boston's combat zone. He had never actually made love to a woman. And, he had been celibate for so long, with only some heavy petting and erotic dreams of Abbey for release. He was afraid he would embarrass himself and everything would be all over before it started. Abbey sensed his hesitation. "Jed, don't you want me?" she asked. 

"God, Abbey I feel like I've been wanting you forever. I just want this to be good for us." 

"It will be," she pulled him down so he could stretch out next to her and he began to kiss her, reveling in the knowledge that his wandering hands could go wherever they wanted without fear of being turned away. However, when his hand slipped under her bra to caress the satiny skin of her breast, Abbey pulled back slightly. Jed bit back a moan of disappointment. This was usually the point that Abbey stopped him before things got any further. 

"Abbey, do you want to stop?" He bit out. 

"No...it's just...Jed, this is my first time. I thought you should know." 

"But Ron...Ron told me he slept with you? Was he lying?" 

"No, he slept with me, but all we did was sleep. Well, that's not all we did, but we didn't go all the way." 

Jed smiled tenderly down at her, tracing her cheekbone with his forefinger. 

"Well, I'm hardly Casanova, Abigail. I've never done this with a woman I love before. So, we'll learn together." 

And learn they did. Learned each other's contours, pressure needed and wanted, intimate touches that might have embarrassed if it hadn't been with each other. Clumsy touches and sweet touches, touches that caused the other gasp with need. And when Abbey was finally laying naked on the blanket, tears came to her eyes at the way Jed's desire filled gaze moved with reverence up and down her body. 

"You are so beautiful," he breathed in a voice husky with need. Abbey had never felt more beautiful or loved as she did in that moment. Jed felt her tense slightly as his body settled in between her parted thighs. 

"Are you sure?" He asked. 

"Yes," Abbey sighed. 

"I don't want to hurt you." 

"You won't." 

"I might." 

"It's ok," she instinctively lifted her legs around his waist, showing him how much she wanted him. Jed moved forward, taking Abbey's small gasp of pain into his mouth as they were finally joined as one. 

"Are you ok?" He bit out, fighting the urge to move within her. 

"Yeah, just don't move for a minute." They lay together, fingers intertwined, for what seemed an eternity, while Abbey's body learned to accept the man who would spend the rest of his life moving inside of it. And, when he finally did move, the pain was gone and was replaced with a need so great they cried out with it. It was amazing to Abbey, these waves and waves of pleasure that just kept building until she didn't think she could stand it anymore. Just as her own body began to shake with release, she heard Jed groan out her name loudly and she could actually feel him pulsing and spilling himself inside her. That was a surprise. That she could actually feel him. When it was over, Jed pulled her to his side tightly, as if now that he had finally had her this way, he was never going to let her out of his reach again. 

"You ok?" He asked, still breathing heavy and picking bits of hay from her hair. 

"I'm fine," she smiled, running a hand over his crisp chest hair, watching the sunlight play on her engagement ring. "If I had known it would be like that, I would have given in ages ago." 

"It's not always like that Abbey," Jed said seriously. "It was never like that for me." 

"I'm glad," she kissed his chin. 

(Maine) 

"So, how long was it before you realized you were pregnant?" CJ asked. 

"Not long. Oh, I was in denial big time. I knew the risks. Hell, I was pre-med. But you still never believe that ONE time is going to happen to you." 

"She came home after graduation and she was puking everywhere," Jane grinned. 

"Thanks for that attractive vision, Janey," Abbey rolled her eyes. "Morning sickness has always hit me pretty hard, as you may remember with Nicky and Ais." 

"How could I forget?" CJ smiled, remembering all those meetings where Abbey would have to race from the room hand over mouth or leave the President to make her excuses to the press when she left a function early. 

"It was our mother who discovered her little secret." 

(O'Neill house, Salem, Massachusetts) 

It's just nerves about the wedding, Abbey told herself as she brushed her teeth after vomiting for the third time in one morning. That's all it is. I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. I just have to relax. Oh God, I don't think I'm ready to be a mother. I'm only 21. What am I going to do about medical school? Will I ever get the chance to be a doctor? My parents are going to be so disappointed. They are so proud of me, especially Daddy. He loves the idea that I want to follow in his footsteps. No Abbey, this is nothing. It's just stress. She opened the door to leave the bathroom only to see her mother standing with her arms crossed, staring at the door. 

"Abigail, is there something you want to tell me?" 

"What?" Abbey asked nervously. 

"Abbey, this is your mother you are talking to. Are you pregnant?" Her tone was softer now, causing tears to fill Abbey's eyes. 

"I think I am," she began to cry. "I can't seem to stop throwing up." 

"Are you late?" Beth asked, leading her daughter into her bedroom. "Do your breasts hurt?" 

"Yes, and yes." 

"Do you know when?" 

"At the Bartlet's on Easter break. We didn't use anything." 

"That would make you about 5-6 weeks. Oh Abbey, you should know better, you're going to be a doctor." 

"Mom, don't. I know it was stupid. But we had waited so long and I just didn't want to wait anymore, and Jed had asked me to marry him." 

"Ssh, it's ok, don't go getting all worked up. Have you told Jed yet?" 

"No. How can I tell him when I'm not even sure yet? How can I tell him that he is going to be a father when he is still in school? I won't be able to go to med school." 

"Are you afraid that if you tell him, he might ask you to do something about it?" Beth asked gently. 

"Absolutely not," Abbey said eyes wide with surprise. No, Jed had almost become a priest, he wouldn't want her to do that. She knew that despite the fact that it was illegal, her father would know of somewhere reputable to take care of it. But, that thought sent a surge of protective love throughout her body for her unborn child and she realized that despite the mess she was in, she wanted this baby. "No, I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid that he will be angry with me and call off the wedding." 

"That doesn't sound like the Jed I know." 

"I know," Abbey sighed. "He is more the type to accept the responsibility and stew in his anger about it. What if he isn't ready?" 

"Well, he better get ready fast because he may have a baby on the way. Give him some credit, Abbey. He loves you. You are already getting married. In any case, you have to find out for sure and you have to tell him." 

(Maine) 

"How did the President react?" CJ asked, "Was he angry?" 

"No," Abbey smiled tenderly. "His reaction was not what I had expected at all." 

(O'Neill house, Salem, Mass. 3 days later) 

"Jed, I asked you to come down here for a reason." 

"I know, I have to help you finish writing out the wedding invitations." 

"No, that isn't it." How do I tell you, she thought. How do I tell you that all our plans are going up in smoke? How are you going to take this? "Jed, I'm late." 

"Late for what? You didn't tell me you a fitting today?" He said, puzzled. Abbey shook her head at him. God, men could be so dense sometimes. 

"Not late. LATE. My period is late. Six weeks late." 

"Oh," Jed mumbled, his face going red with embarrassment, "is that normal for you? Are you late sometimes?" 

"No, I am usually very regular. Like clockwork." 

"So you think you might be..." he trailed off uncomfortably. 

"Pregnant, Jed, you can say it, pregnant." Jed's first reaction was a little burst of joy in his heart, but as he looked at Abbey's face and heard her tone, guilt overwhelmed him. Because of him, all her plans were ruined. She couldn't go to medical school pregnant. 

"Abbey, I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry," he had a panicked look in his eyes that made her angry with him. 

"I don't want you to be SORRY, Jed!" she exploded. "I just...Oh, I can't talk about this now, please just go away." 

"Abbey, we need to talk about this," God, she hated it when he was calm and rational and she wasn't. 

"Not now Jed," she turned and ran from the room. Jed stood stunned for a few moments not sure whether he should go to her or give her the space she asked for. He heard her crying in her bedroom and almost opened the door. But he turned instead and went to walk by the harbor, hoping to clear his head. He didn't know what to feel. A baby. Abbey is having a baby, MY baby. He was going to be a father. A part of him was thrilled that Abbey was carrying his baby, but the evidence of Abbey's pain was almost more than he could bear. The guilt gnawed at him. He was the man. He should have taken care of it. But he hadn't protected her and now all her dreams were being crushed. She must be absolutely furious with him. Then, a niggling fear worked its way down his spine. What if Abbey REALLY didn't want the baby? What if she decided NOT to have the baby? It scared the hell out of him to think of her under the knife of one of those back alley butchers. He had heard quite a few stories of unclean facilities and people who didn't know what they were doing maiming women for life. Not to mention the fact that he wanted the baby. Really wanted it. Well, he wasn't going to accomplish anything walking around out here on his own. He had to talk it all out with Abbey. So, he made his way back to her house and knocked on her bedroom door. He didn't expect her to fly into his arms the way she did. 

"I'm so sorry, Jed, I didn't mean to shut you out. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I'm just scared." 

"I'm so sorry I did this to you," he said into her hair. Abbey pulled back away from him and gave him a fierce look. 

"Well, you may be sorry but I happen to want this baby and I'm having it, Jed, whether you are with me or not." 

"Abbey," he said stunned, "of course I am with you. That's my baby inside you. But, are you happy about it?" 

"Are you?" She shot back. 

"I know I shouldn't be, Abbey, but yes, a part of me that is selfish is very happy." 

"You are? I thought you would be angry," she said, looking up at him through wet lashes. 

"Shocked, nervous, stunned, but not angry. Never angry. But, I'm not the one who has to carry this baby. I'm not the one who isn't going to be able to go to medical school in the fall. THAT is what I'm sorry about. But, I was thinking about all that and you can still go to med school. When we come home from London, the baby will be almost 2. At that point you can go to Harvard like you had planned to from the start. You can get a deferment. Then, while you are in medical school, I'll teach part time and take care of you and the baby." 

"You'd do that, Jed?" 

"Just doing my fair share. Besides, don't you know by now that I'd do anything for you? Now, before we go making all these plans, we should find out for sure if you really are pregnant." 

"I have an appointment at 2:00 on Friday." 

"I have to talk with someone from the LSE Friday, but I should be able to pick you up from your appointment." 

"Ok," she squeezed his hand. "Will you always be my rock, Jed?" 

"As long as you're mine." 

Abbey walked out of the examination room still slightly dazed and saw Jed waiting for her anxiously. He got to his feet and approached her. 

"Well?" he asked. Abbey bit her bottom lip and simply nodded affirmatively. 

"Everything is going to be just fine, Abbey," he gave her a broad smile, "I promise." 

"Jed, we're really going to have a baby," she said in disbelief. 

"We're gonna have a baby!" he shouted and lifted her into his arms to spin around, causing everyone in the waiting room to smile. Abbey began to laugh at his joy. 

"Wow, you really are happy." 

"I really am happy," he said, giving her a big noisy kiss. 

They left the doctor's office and began to head toward Jed's car but he stopped her before she could get into the passenger's side and brought her to the trunk. 

"What are you doing?" Abbey asked, puzzled. 

"You'll see," He reached inside and pulled out a dozen long stemmed roses and a gift-wrapped box. 

"What is all this?" She asked stunned. 

"For the mother of my child," he grinned, "I wanted to make sure before you saw all this." 

"Jed, you always know how to make me cry," she smiled through her tears. 

"Well stop crying and open it," he urged her. Abbey handed him her flowers and began to open the gift. Inside lay two tiny newborn outfits. One little blue sailor suit and a frilly pink and white gingham dress. "Boy or girl, I got you covered, babe," he winked. Abbey threw her arms around his neck. 

"I can't think of a better man to be the father of my children," she said against his neck. 

"Children?" he asked 

"Well, yeah. You didn't think this would be the only one, did you? I mean you're the one who said your dream was to have a big, noisy, loving family." 

"You gonna make all my dreams come true?" He pushed the hair back from her face. 

"I'll do my damnedest." 

(Maine) 

"And you followed him to London and into the history books," CJ said with a dramatic flourish of her arm. 

"I guess you could say that. Good lord, did we drink all this wine?" Abbey asked, eyeing the empty bottles. 

"Nobody else here but us," Jane giggled. Abbey gave her a strange look. Jane did not giggle. They were all plastered. Well, she had to admit, she was feeling pretty light-headed herself. 

"Where did I put that oven mitt?" Abbey asked, not seeming to be able to focus well on anything at the moment. 

"Ah, see now this is what happens with CIU," CJ said knowingly. 

"CIU?" Abbey asked. 

"Cooking under the influence," she said straight-faced, causing everyone to burst into laughter. 

"Oh, I see it," Jenny said, grabbing it from the top of a pile of magazines on the table. She picked it up and handed it to Abbey, who began to check on the broccoli casserole she was cooking. 

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" CJ asked, picking up a Cosmopolitan magazine that just happened to be bookmarked. Abbey turned to see her opening the magazine. 

"CJ, give that to me," she said, remembering the afternoon she had idled away filling out that questionnaire. 

"No way, this is too good." She held it up, taking advantage of her height advantage. 

"Damn, where are my heels?" Abbey asked, eyeing her bare feet with dismay. 

"Listen to this ladies. The headline reads 'How Sexually Adventurous Are You?' and there are a whole bunch of questions checked off here. I'm impressed, you ranked pretty darn high. In fact it looks like you would have made the top spot if you'd been into S&M or menage et trois." 

"CJ," Abbey glared at her, "I'm the First Lady again." 

"No way," CJ said, much too drunk to worry about protocol, "you haven't been the First Lady all day, you can't change now." 

"Yeah Abbey, no way you're pulling rank now," Jane protested. Abbey was just drunk enough to accept their proclamations and turned to continue cooking while trying to act indifferent to what CJ was saying. 

"Well," CJ grinned with delight, "it seems that the letter d which states "4 or more" seems to be the letter of choice for you." 

"What are the questions?" Jane egged her on. 

"Let's see. Here is a pretty benign one. How many rooms in your home have you had sex in? If you guessed the answer was d, 4 or more, you'd be right." 

"Four?" Sally asked, tapping Abbey on the shoulder. "I mean, I get the bedroom, the bathroom, maybe the couch in the living room, but where is number four?" 

"Well," Abbey turned around, hands on her hips. If she was going to get ribbed for this she may as well go all out, "that kitchen table you're all sitting around is very stable." They all looked at her in shock, then burst into drunken fits of laughter. 

"You didn't?" Sally giggled with shock. 

"Oh yeah, and four is nothing. I live in a mansion with dozens of rooms now. The number is well over four." 

"Did you ever...you know...in the Oval Office?" CJ asked. 

"Not yet. Well, not technically anyway." 

"What do you mean, technically? You're waffling now, Mrs. Bartlet." 

"There are way too many windows in the Oval Office so we went into the Oval Office bathroom." 

"Shut up, you did not!!!" CJ gasped. 

"Oh, didn't we? If Mrs.Landingham were still alive, she would confirm it. You should have heard Jed trying to explain to her about the special meeting of the government that was going on in the bathroom. Somehow, I don't think she bought it," Abbey laughed. 

"Was she shocked?" Jenny asked with wide eyes. 

"Mrs. Landingham worked for my husband for more years than I care to remember. Nothing we did could shock her at that point." 

"Okay ladies, the hunters have returned," Jed called out, barreling into the room with his cooler. All the women eyed him and burst into laughter, their thoughts still on the First Couple's sexual escapades. "What's so funny?" 

"Nothing, Mr. President." They all began the fits of giggles again. 

"Ignore them, they're drunk," Abbey said, elbowing CJ. 

"I can see that," Jed said eyeing the empty bottles as he leaned down to greet Abbey with a kiss. "Mmmm, coconut," he licked his lips. 

"Piña coladas." Abbey watched the rest of the men filter in and turned back to Jed. "So, should we start the steaks now?" 

"Abbey, I'm wounded. We said that we would bring supper home to our women and we did." He opened the cooler to reveal that it was filled with bluefish. 

"Well, I have to say that I am astonished and impressed, but get those smelly fish out of my kitchen," Abbey wrinkled her nose. 

"You know usually the men catch it and the women prepare it," Jed informed her. 

"And you know my rules. You caught it, you clean it." 

Jed turned to go outside, dragging the other men with him. 

"We have to clean them?" Josh asked with disgust. 

"Abbey hates to clean fish. She thinks it's gross." 

"Your wife is a surgeon," Toby said incredulously, "how can she find it gross to clean a fish?" 

"I don't know, Toby? Maybe it has something to do with the scales and the stench and their eyeballs staring at you. But, if you'd like to go in and argue the point with her, be my guest." 

"No thanks," he grumbled and began to get to work with the others. 

"Do you think she'll find out we bought these fish off of that fisherman?" Sam asked. 

"Not a chance," Jed grinned. 

A bit later while Jed was watching the fish on the grill, Abbey brought out some more dill sauce to baste them with and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. 

"Hey, you," he said, turning around into her arms. 

"Only two more days until our anniversary," she told him. 

"I know," he kissed the top of her head. "I've been thinking about the first time we met a lot today." 

"You have?" She asked with surprise. "So have I. Sometimes it seems like it was so long ago and other times it seems like it was just yesterday." 

"You know, I was thinking that maybe we should send some flowers to Millie and Jenny, you know, to thank them for making us go to that party." 

"That's a nice idea," she snuggled against his chest. 

"I might even send some to Ron." 

"Ron?" Abbey pulled back to look up at him. 

"Yeah, to thank him for being such jerk you had to dump him." 

"Jed," Abbey rolled her eyes, "Ron wasn't a jerk, he just wasn't for me." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, well however you want to look at it, I'm just glad that I was the one for you." 

"Me too," she smiled, cuddling back to his chest. "Oh by the way, Jed," she said against the hollow of his throat, "who did you buy the fish from?" 

"How did you know?" He chuckled. 

"When are you going to learn that I know you better than you know yourself?" 

"Someday, Abigail," he rubbed his cheek against her soft hair. "Someday." 

Chapter 13: 

Leo was approaching the Bartlet cottage, newspaper in hand, when he heard his daughter's voice coming from the porch. It was obvious she was talking with the Bartlet girls. 

"Ok, the list of their favorite songs from the 50's to now is officially finished," Mallory sighed. "This has been a lot of fun. I'm glad you asked me to help out. Your parents mean a lot to me. Some of the best times of my life were those weeks I spent at the farm with you guys when I was a kid. Your Mom and Dad were so terrific and fun. I really felt like part of a family when I was with you all." 

"You had a family, Mallory," Leo said sharply. 

"Daddy!" Mallory jumped. 

"You had a family, Mallory, you didn't need the Bartlets for that." 

"You know what I meant. Of course I had a family," she said soothingly. "I just meant that it was a lot of fun to be with all the girls. Being an only child was lonely sometimes." Mallory didn't mention all those meals she ate in silence with her mother because her father was too busy with his work, or was out getting drunk. Uncle Jed did not come home long after his daughters were already in bed and kiss them on the cheek reeking of alcohol. And, Aunt Abbey did not make snide comments about her husband's flaws as a father to her daughters. Yeah, they fought, but rarely in front of the girls. And, when they did break that rule, it was actually kind of fun to watch them argue. It was more like watching a sparring match where nobody got hurt and nobody got sucker punched, which was completely different from her house. The Bartlets never stormed off to bed angry, leaving the other to find another sleeping arrangement. Instead, whatever went on behind those closed bedroom doors seemed to put them in an even extra good humor the following day when they would be back to their teasing banter. She even got used to the touching and the open affection they had for one another. It was so comforting for her to be in a home with that kind of loving stability, when her own home was filled with the chaos and anger of substance abuse. 

Leo walked in off the porch into the living room of the cottage where Abbey lay reclining on the couch in faded jean shorts and a white tank top reading a book. Jed was lying on the floor beside the babies on a quilt. He was propped up on one elbow squeezing a little squeaky toy that made them gurgle and reach up to him. Abbey glanced up from her book and Leo looked down at the sand he had dragged in on his bare feet. 

"Sorry, Abbey," he murmured. 

"Don't worry about it, Leo," Abbey said with a wave of her hand, "there have been so many dripping wet, sandy people coming through here it hardly matters anymore." 

"Come take a look at these smiles I'm getting," Jed urged him. Leo moved forward to look down at the drooling, smiling, utterly adorable Bartlet babies. 

"You got great looking kids Mr. President," Leo grinned, putting a finger out for Aislinn to grasp, "but are you sure those smiles aren't gas?" 

"Those are true and genuine smiles for the man who takes care of them, the man who feeds them and who gets up in the middle of the night with them..." Jed's grandiose pronouncement was cut short by Abbey's sarcastic coughing spell and he looked up to see her giving him the evil eye. 

"And their mother helps out with this too," he added. 

"Helps out?" Abbey said astonished, shoving him on the back of his shoulder with her bare foot. "I practically need to use a cattle prod to make you get up with them at night." 

"Uh, Abbey, is she hungry?" Leo asked, looking down at Aislinn who had pulled his finger into her mouth to suck on. 

"Teething," Abbey explained, "they'll gnaw on anything right about now." 

"Here," Jed handed him a cold teething ring which Leo put in the baby's mouth in place of his finger. "Now, why are you here Leo? Somehow, I don't think you stopped in just to admire my gorgeous children." 

"I'm afraid not. There's something CJ and I thought you should see." 

"What is it, Leo?" Abbey asked sitting up, as Leo handed the paper to Jed. She quickly scanned the headline proclaiming "First Lady Shows Her True Colors." 

"Evidently a free lance photographer has taken some unofficial pictures of your vacation. Some of the pictures were taken on the Abigail Anne." Leo watched all the blood drain from Abbey's face and panic fill her eyes and, for the briefest of moments, he felt a twinge of satisfaction for having given her such a fright. 

"Oh my God," she breathed, sinking back down against the throw pillows and closing her eyes. 

"It's ok Abbey," Jed said squeezing her knee. He knew exactly what she was worried about. "It's from the day of the clambake." He showed her the front page of USA Today, and Abbey was relieved to see the headline was referring to her patriotic bikini top and sarong, not that night in her camisole, as she had feared. There were two photos on the front page. One of Jed smoothing sunscreen onto her shoulders and one of the two of them slow-dancing on the deck of the boat. 

"Other than flashing my wife's great little bod onto every magazine stand in America, I don't see what the big deal is, Leo." 

"Actually CJ and I liked the pictures. They'll be good for us in the long run to dispute the tabloid rumors of a rift between the two of you. But, turn the page," Leo instructed. On the inside page was an innocent photo of the two of them sitting on the beach, each with a twin on their lap. 

"Jesus Christ Leo," Jed burst out, jumping angrily to his feet. "I want CJ to get this guy and I want to meet with him privately." 

"Mr. President, don't you think you should calm down first? Besides, this guy isn't White House Press, they know the rules about your children." 

"No Leo, I don't think I should calm down. And, I don't care who the hell he works for. I want him brought in! And, while you're at it, get Ron Butterfield over here." 

"Ron?" Abbey asked puzzled 

"Goddammit Abbey, the Secret Service let a photographer get close enough to get these pictures. What if, instead of a camera, he'd had a gun? Someone could have killed our children!" Abbey blanched at the thought, looking down at the picture of her vulnerable babies lying in their parent's arms. Parents who were targets for so many wacko extremists that there were specially trained agents whose job it was to filter through their mail to decide whether someone should be considered a true threat or just mouthing off. 

"Yes, Leo," Abbey added firmly, "Get Ron over here pronto." 

*** 

Later that evening, Jed was lying back in bed flipping through a magazine but his gaze kept lifting to his wife. She was sitting at her vanity scooping her hair into her hands and holding it up off her neck, turning her head side to side, then letting it fall back down to her shoulders, before repeating the process. 

"What are you doing?" He finally asked. 

"Jenny and Mallory planned a day at Serenity Spa tomorrow for all of us. We're going to have exfoliating facials, milk baths, waxing, pedicures, manicures, massages, make up and hair. I'm trying to decide if I want to wear my hair up or down for the party." 

"Do I get any say?" He asked, coming up behind her to press his lips to the exposed nape of her neck. 

"Let me guess," she tilted her head back to look up at him. "You want it down?" 

"Oh yeah," he grinned and began to run his fingers through her soft tresses. "There is nothing sexier than a woman's long hair brushing her bare shoulders." He took the brush from her and began to run it through her hair in strong easy strokes. He loved to brush his wife's beautiful hair almost as much as his wife loved for him to do it. Abbey leaned her head back, sighing with pleasure. "Now, what is this about a massage?" He asked, leaning down to nip her earlobe. "I don't like the idea of you laying naked while some big Swedish guy rubs his hands over your body massaging you." 

"Really?" she teased raising an eyebrow, "Because I think that sounds pretty good to me." 

"It does, does it? Well, there goes that full body massage I was going to offer to give you tonight. Actually," he put the brush down and moved to pick up the magazine he had been flipping through, "I was thinking about ways to raise our adventurous sexuality score." 

"Oh Jed, put that stupid magazine away, I'm sorry I ever filled out that survey." 

"Well, I happen to think it is very interesting, Abigail. Let's see. We scored 4 out of 5 stars. For 4 stars it says that we are daring adventurers who enjoy sex with erotic enthusiasm, initiative, and a willingness to experiment. I'd say that's a valid assessment. I LOVE to experiment." 

"No kidding," Abbey smiled, remembering how he hadn't blinked an eye when she brought home that book on Kama Sutra. They had, in fact, had quite a fun and erotic winter going through that book together. 

"So, it looks like our strong points were in the sections of sensuality, lack of inhibition, and sheer volume. I want to know where we lost points so we can see if we can't get up into that top spot." 

"Kinky," she said, moving towards him to run a finger over his bottom lip. 

"What?" He swallowed. 

"We lost points in the kinky section." 

"I can do kinky," he insisted. 

"Really? Well, let me get my black lace bustier, garters, and fishnet stockings." She began digging through her lingerie drawer for the objects mentioned. 

"Now, you're talking," he said, feeling his nether region come to life at just the mention of the naughty underwear. Abbey found what she was looking for and handed the items to Jed. He looked at her puzzled. "Aren't you going to put them on?" He asked. 

"No. YOU are," she smiled slyly. 

"Me!" Jed dropped the items on the bed as if they were on fire. 

"It's only kinky if you wear my underwear. If I wear it, it's merely sexy." 

"I'm ok with sexy," he said, picking the underwear back up, "you go ahead and put it on. I can live with 4 stars." 

"Somehow I thought you'd say that," she patted his behind and began to move toward the bathroom dangling the lace garments on the edge of her finger, bringing back that tightening in his groin that had disappeared at the mention of him wearing women's underwear. 

**** 

The next morning brought noise and chaos to the Bartlet cottage as preparations for the anniversary party began. Tents were erected, tables and chairs moved in, and dance floors laid out. The caterers arrived with glasses, dishes and champagne fountains. Abbey, Beth, and Emily were in the thick of things directing the human traffic, while Jed sat at the kitchen table spooning baby cereal into his offspring and listening to his daughters giggle with enthusiasm over their upcoming day at the spa. 

"Mornin' Jane," he said to his yawning sister-in-law who joined him at the table in her bathrobe. 

"It is an obscene hour to be awake," Jane grumbled, "but who the heck can sleep with all this racket?" 

"Aren't you going to the spa with everyone else?" 

"Yeah," she grimaced, "Abbey's been bugging me about it. She really wants me to go with them and take part in this girlie girl day." 

"You're a good sister, Jane," he smiled, sticking a bottle into Nicky's mouth to wash down some of his cereal. He knew how much Jane hated primping and preening. She was more the wash n' wear type. 

"Blah, blah, blah," she wrinkled her nose, "but I'm only going to be a good sport to a certain extent. I already told her no hot rollers in my hair and nobody is painting my toenails." 

"What about a dress? Are we going to see the infamous Jane O'Neill in a dress for the second time since I have known her?" 

"It would be my third," she reminded him. "My bridesmaid's gown and that dress I caved in and wore to your Inaugural Ball." 

"Oh yeah, I forgot that one." 

"That's because you only had your eyes on your wife that night," she smiled. "I have a pantsuit for tonight. I am not wearing another gown until your next Inauguration and that will be the last one ever, so you better get pictures." Jed smiled at his sister-in-law, knowing that in her own round about way she had just informed him that she too had forgiven him and was behind him in his re-election campaign. "Oh, before Abbey comes in, I wanted to give you something." She left for a minute and came back with her sketchbook. Jed opened it to see all the lonely pictures of Abbey that Jane had sketched at the beginning of her vacation. 

"Thank you Jane," he said softly. 

"They belong to you, just like she does. I want you to have these because when you are tempted to feel that she doesn't need you, you can just look at these sketches and see just how wrong you are. I have something else for the two of you tonight when you open your gifts, but these are for you." 

"You're a fine lady," Jed said, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. 

"Woman, Jed," she wagged a finger at him, "woman." 

**** 

"Abigail," Emily said, approaching her daughter-in-law. "Isn't it about time that you leave for the spa?" Abbey glanced down at her watch. 

"You're right, it is. I wish you would change your mind and come with us, Emily." 

"I'm an old woman, Abigail. A spa isn't going to help me." 

"It can benefit you just in terms of relaxation. My mother is going." 

"I know, but I would prefer to stay here and make sure that the set-up runs smoothly. This is my area of expertise. I had 20 years as a headmaster's wife, setting up graduations and alumni dinner dances. Let me do this for you and Josiah." 

"If this is really what you want, than all I can say is that I appreciate it." 

"Before you go, I'd like to give you something. I found these in the attic at the camp in Wolfeboro," she handed Abbey a shoebox. Abbey opened the box to see a stack of envelopes tied together with a ribbon. She looked at Emily puzzled. 

"I don't understand?" 

"Those are the letters you wrote to Josiah the summer he was working on the Indian Reservation. He knew he kept them and over the years he has looked everywhere at the farm for them. I think he believed I found them and threw them away. I wouldn't have done that. I knew how important they were to him. He must have forgotten that when he returned from the Reservation, we were still at the lake and he spent the week there before going back to Indiana. I was cleaning the attic with Sally last week and we found them. Don't worry, I didn't read them." 

"I didn't think you had," Abbey said, a feeling of warmth filling her. Jed had kept her love letters all these years. 

"I really believed that your romance would not survive the summer. I never believed in absence makes the heart grow fonder but then again, I had no idea of the deep feelings that you two already shared at that point. I underestimated that love a lot in the beginning." 

"We kind of enjoyed proving you wrong," Abbey smiled. 

"Well you did, over and over again. What I'm trying to tell you is that...well...I'm glad your love survived that summer and that Josiah ended up with a wife like you. We are so different, you and I, that we were bound to rub each other wrong. But, you love my son. I have never doubted that. You have given him the life and family he wanted. Truth be told, I watched him come alive after he met you. You gave him the strength to be himself." 

"He's a good man, Emily." 

"Yes, he is. I finally had the strength to tell him that after he was shot. I never got the chance to tell you that you are a good woman." 

"Thank you," Abbey was obviously moved by her mother-in-law's statement, as she held the love letters to her chest. 

"Abbey!" Beth called out and Abbey looked up to see her mother and CJ approaching. "I have some good news." 

**** 

Jed was just finishing running a wash cloth over Aislinn's face when Abbey entered the kitchen, her mother and CJ on her heels. 

"Good news," she called out brightly, "Mom just got a call from Evan. He and CeCe are going to be able to make it after all, and both Barbara and Lanie said they could bring the girls." 

"Oh goody," Jed mumbled sarcastically, "Phyllis, Susan, AND Evan. This ought to be a lot of fun." 

"Did you say something, Jed?" Abbey's eyes narrowed. 

"Not a word, dear," Jed said innocently. 

"I didn't think so." She took Aislinn from him, while Izzy grabbed Nicholas and they headed upstairs. 

"Who is Evan?" CJ asked. 

"Evan O'Neill is Abbey's younger brother. They're only 15 months apart in age and were very close growing up." 

"Why the sarcasm then? Don't you like him?" 

"Not particularly. Evan represents just the kind of man I can't stand. He does pharmaceutical research in Europe and is now on his third wife. He left every wife for the newer, younger version and they seem to get progressively younger every time he marries. I believe this one is just a little older than Liz and his own eldest daughter, Bridget. He has two other children with his second wife, Owen is 19 and Hannah is 12. They rarely see him. Unfortunately, Abbey adores him." 

"That doesn't sound like the kind of man that she would tolerate, either," CJ said. 

"Normally she wouldn't, but this is her baby brother and he can almost do no wrong in her eyes." 

"Almost?" 

"Oh, she has read him the riot act over his treatment of his wives and children, but she always forgives him." 

"Well, that's what families do, isn't it?" 

"I suppose, but that doesn't mean you have to like it," he sulked. At that moment, Jenny and Mallory entered calling out to Abbey and the girls to see if they were ready to go. 

"Coming," Abbey called from the stairs and soon breezed into the kitchen. "Well, I'm off," she said, stopping in front of Jed. 

"Remember, no Swedish men," he told her sternly and leaned down to give her a light kiss on the lips. 

"No guarantees," she grinned, then turned to the other women in the room. "Let's go girls." 

Chapter 14: 

"You know Abbey," Jane grumbled, lying back in her chair. "I didn't need to spend hundreds of dollars to have somebody put dirt on my face." 

"It's called a mudpack, Jane," Abbey stated. Her own skin was tingling from the seaweed mask and the apricot moisturizer that was being applied to her face. While the cream was being gently massaged into her skin, another person worked painting her toenails and a manicurist was filing her fingernails. She felt totally and completely pampered. She knew that some people believed this was the treatment the First Lady received everyday, but the truth of the matter was that she usually did her own hair and make up unless she was going to be on TV or at a State Dinner. 

"Dirt, mud, it's the same thing. What's next on the agenda anyway?" 

"We move on to waxing before our massages," CJ said, while picking out the polish color she wanted for her toes. 

"What exactly are we waxing?" Jane asked with trepidation. 

"Legs, underarms, and bikini," Abbey smiled, knowing what kind of response she would draw. 

"You've got to be kidding me," Jane groaned. "You're the one who wears bikinis, YOU get a bikini wax." 

"I intend to," Abbey said calmly. "Now come on Jane, you paid for the whole buff and polish, you may as well get your money's worth." 

"I can't believe I paid for this torture, and moreover, I can't believe that you guys are enjoying all of this." 

"Well, I agree the waxing is not exactly on my list of fun things to do, but everything else is pure heaven." 

"Girls," Jane shook her head sarcastically and CJ and Abbey burst into laughter. 

**** 

Abbey entered the sauna wearing a lavender scented towel. Her whole body was so relaxed from her massage it felt as if she were floating. Jenny and CJ were already seated, soaking up the heat. 

"Was that massage not the most heavenly thing you have ever been through?" She asked. 

"I am so relaxed right now I can barely keep my eyes open," Jenny said, leaning her head back against the wall. 

"Oh, by the way you two, if Jed should ask, little old Mr. Woo was a 6 foot 4 inch Scandinavian named Sven." 

"Should we ask why?" Jenny grinned. 

"Let's just say, it might make him work a little harder tonight." 

"Abbey," Jenny burst into laughter, "you are so bad." 

"I need a man," CJ sighed, tucking her knees up under her chin. 

"What?" Both Abbey and Jenny turned to look at her. 

"I need a goddamn man. Here I am all waxed and primed. I look good, I smell good, and I'm so relaxed I could melt into the floor. And what good is that going to do me? There is no special someone out there for me tonight. Do you know how long it has been since I have had sex?" 

"How long?" Abbey asked. 

"That was a rhetorical question," CJ glared. "But, let's just say I didn't score 4 out of 5 stars on an adventurous sex survey." 

"I'm not going to apologize for having a healthy sex life," Abbey sniffed and took a sip from her lemon-flavored water. "A sex life that actually USED to be private, until my husband became President. I like sex, so sue me." 

"I like sex too. I'm just not getting any," CJ lamented. "Do you know how hard it is first of all to meet a man on the schedule that I have? Then, if I meet a man, do you know how hard it is to keep him from being intimidated by my job? And, if I miraculously find a man that isn't intimidated, do you know how hard it is to keep him with the hours I work?" 

"I'm sure it is," Jenny said. "That job is one of the main reasons I divorced Leo." 

"And it's why I'll never have a real relationship until I am out of this job. I love my work, but a part of me also wants a husband and babies. Sometimes when I look at you and the President with Aislinn and Nicholas, I want to make a baby so badly I ache." 

"Well, the making part is fun but just remember that they go in a lot easier than they come out," Abbey smiled ruefully. 

"So I heard," CJ laughed. 

"What did you hear?" Abbey asked puzzled. 

"The waiting area was right outside the birthing room. When the nurses would open the door, we could hear some of what was going on in there. I have to say it was kind of fun watching the guys squirm. Anyway, I could hear the President telling you to stop tensing up and try to relax, to which you responded, and I quote, 'The next time you try to pass a bowling ball out your butt, you can lecture me on tensing up.'" 

"Oh that's a good one," Abbey grinned with pride. "I never remember half of what I said when I was in labor. But, CJ, if that is the way you really feel, why did you want Jed to run for re-election so badly?" 

"Because in spite of it all, this is the most exciting, most important work I will ever do. But that doesn't mean I don't have needs." 

"OK, CJ. If you want a man, I'm going to find you a man." 

"Oh, this is too much," CJ groaned. "The First Lady is going to be my pimp." 

"I didn't say I was going to hire you an escort," Abbey rolled her eyes, "I know plenty of single attractive men. Who knows, you may get lucky." Both leaned their heads back against the wall, feeling the sweat pour from their bodies releasing all those horrible toxins. But, while CJ was still reeling over the idea that the First Lady was hatching a plan to get her laid, Abbey's own thoughts were more on the romantic side of things. 

**** 

After a soothing cool bath of rose petals and lavender and a rubdown with moisturizing lemon verbena and apricot, Abbey's face was made up and the hair stylist began to remove the hot curlers from her hair. 

"I have to say I feel like some kind of concubine or harem girl being prepared for the sheik or something," Mallory laughed. 

"You're reading too many romance novels," Abbey smiled at her goddaughter. But, secretly she felt the same way. Only she was being prepared for the President of the United States, not a Sheik. That deeply feminine thought filled her with anticipation for the evening ahead. Her body had been indulged in sensuality all day and later tonight, when all their guests were gone, she longed for the moment when Jed would fulfill the desires that made her blood run heavy with need. 

"What do you think?" Annie asked, parading in with an upswept hairdo and her face expertly made up. Abbey stared at her unable to believe this was her sweet 13 year-old granddaughter. 

"You're beautiful, honey. But, you look like you are 18 years old," she sighed. 

"I know," Annie smiled with glee. "Maybe Sam will dance with me tonight." 

"Maybe he will," Abbey conceded, "but Annie, Sam is much to old for you. You know that, don't you?" 

"I know he thinks I'm a kid." 

"You are a kid. Well, young woman. You're 13 and Sam is in his 30's. I don't want you to be hurt if he sees you that way. You should be looking at boys closer to your own age." 

"Boys my own age are so immature." 

"They are, aren't they?" Abbey grinned with her own memories of 13 year old boys. "But don't worry, give them a chance and they'll catch up." She smiled wistfully as Annie walked away to show her mother her hairdo, hoping that her innocent girlish crush on Sam would not break her heart. 

"How are you wearing your hair, Mom?" Ellie asked as the last of Abbey's hot rollers were taken out and her hair fell in waves and curls. 

"Down," Abbey answered softly, remembering the husky tone in Jed's voice when he told her to wear it down. "Your father likes it down." 

**** 

Jed was singing away in the shower when Abbey returned to their bedroom to begin dressing for the party. She pulled the Dior dress she had fallen in love with and purchased months ago out of the closet. As First Lady, she chose to wear mainly American designers, but for her private anniversary party where she was simply Abbey Bartlet, she would wear whatever she pleased. She padded barefoot over to the bathroom, where the shower was no longer running and poked her head into the steamy room. Jed was standing in front of the mirror, a towel around his waist, wet hair slicked back, and his jaw covered in shaving cream. 

"Just wanted to let you know I'm home," she said, and before he could say a word, she had slammed the door closed before the damp steam ruined her hair. He finished shaving and splashed some aftershave on before leaving the bathroom. He stopped and stood in the doorway taking in the vision that was his wife. She was standing at her vanity table wrapping a gift, wearing a satiny dress of the iciest, palest peach. The color of the dress only served to play up the warmth of her lightly tanned skin and her deep auburn hair that fell in waves and curls to her bare shoulders. The sleek dress with its thin spaghetti straps, long slit up the side, and deep V in the back, was the perfect choice for a romantic summer night dancing under the moon. Jed's memory went back to that first night when he had picked her up for a date and she had answered the door looking so pretty that it took his breath away and how he had quoted Lord Byron to her. The quote came back to him quite easily and he moved to her, placing his lips to her bare shoulder. 

"There be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee; And like music on the waters Is thy sweet voice to me" 

Abbey turned in his arms, smiling up at him, touched that he had remembered that moment. His hands began to move up and down her arms and he sighed. 

"It's not fair," he said. "You look incredible and you smell incredible, just how am I supposed to keep my hands to myself all night?" 

"Because if you are a good boy, there will be a reward later." 

"How about a little reward now?" He grinned boyishly as he ran his fingers along the long slit up her thigh. His thoughts were on how easy it would be since she was not wearing pantyhose. 

"No," she said firmly. "This hair and make up cost a fortune. I don't want to wreck it." 

"What if I promise not to muss your hair?" 

"It's not you I'm worried about," she smiled and he gave her a wide grin as they both knew how she liked to drag fingers through her hair when the pleasure was intense. "Besides, we have a whole bunch of people who are coming here early to give us our gifts." 

"It's not like they can start without us," he sulked, "we're the guests of honor. This is just like our wedding reception. I wanted to get the hell out of there and get you into bed." 

"Who'd have thought that all these years later, you'd still be trying to get me into bed faster?" She teased. 

"Ah hell Abbey, I knew I'd never get enough of you." 

"And you think I don't feel the same?" She ran her fingers over his smooth clean-shaven jaw ,their eyes locked. A knock on their bedroom door brought them back to their senses. 

"Yes?" Jed called out and Beth stuck her head in. 

"Your senior staff friends are here. I'm going to put out some hors d'oevres." 

"Thanks, Mom," Abbey said, pulling reluctantly away from Jed, who turned to head toward the closet. "We'll be right down in a few minutes." When the door shut, Abbey turned to see her husband standing on a chair searching on the top shelf of the back of their closet. "What are you doing?" 

"Getting your gift," he said. 

"What did you do, make a secret panel?" 

"I thought about it. I know how you love to snoop." 

"I do not snoop," Abbey wrinkled her nose at him. 

"And my approval rating is at 80%." 

"Well, that IS good news," she grinned and he jumped down off the chair, gift in hand to swat her behind. 

"Let's open ours up here in private," he said and Abbey nodded in agreement. "Ladies first," he handed her the gift. Abbey began to dig into the wrapping paper, causing Jed to laugh. She was just like a little kid when it came to gifts. As the gift was revealed, her eyes went wide with astonishment and she gave a little gasp. 

"Oh Jed," she sighed, looking at the stunning antique Faberge jewelry box. 

"Open it," he smiled. Abbey did so and her eyes filled with tears as the strains of 'Somewhere my Love' the love theme from 'Dr. Zhivago' filled the room. 'Dr.Zhivago' was the movie they had gone to see on their first date. 

"This jewelry box is too old to have this song. How did you do it?" She asked. 

"I bought the jewelry box when we were in Russia last year and, when I got home, we found a jeweler who made it into a musical jewelry box." 

"Well, I love it," she started to place her arms around his shoulders. 

"Whoa, there's more in there," he said, stopping her. "Open the bottom tray." 

Abbey did so and gasped at the stunning three drop diamond necklace. 

"Oh God Jed, you really went all out," she sighed, pulling the necklace out. 

"The diamonds represent the past, present, and future," he said, taking it from her. "Will you wear it tonight?" 

"Of course," she turned around and lifted her hair so he could fix the clasp. When she turned back around, Jed fingered the gems that lay just under her throat. 

"You were made to wear diamonds Abbey," he said. 

"It's beautiful," she told him, "you did really good babe." She put a hand behind his neck and pulled his head down so she could give him a soft, gentle kiss before turning to get his gift. 

"Now, I don't think I can top you, but here are your gifts." Jed looked puzzled at the big square box and began to unwrap it and then dig inside. The first thing he pulled out was 'Dr.Zhivago' on DVD. 

"Looks like we're on the same wavelength," he smiled. "Now, since you got this for me, you have to promise me that some snowy day this winter, we'll curl up together and watch this again. Just the two of us." 

"I promise," she said, already looking forward to the day. "Everything in there has something to do with our first date," she informed him. Jed smiled as he pulled out a book. A very old book. Before he opened it, he inhaled the musty old book smell as if it were intoxicating perfume. 

"A first edition anthology of Byron's poetry," he said enthusiastically. "And look at this. It's inscribed by him to Claire Clairmont. Where did you find this?" 

"It wasn't easy. I had a little help from Lord John. He found it in London." 

"What's this?" He asked, pulling out a CD labeled 'I Can't Help Falling in Love With You'. He knew it was the first song they had ever danced to but he was also pretty sure they already owned the Elvis CD of that recording. 

"Put it in the CD player," she said. Jed moved forward and slid the disc in. In moments the music began. His smile turned to a look of astonishment, as Elvis's voice did not spring from the speakers. No, it wasn't Elvis at all, it was Abbey!! She smiled, enjoying his reaction and took his outstretched hand to be pulled into his embrace. They slowly swayed together to the music and Abbey placed the palm of her hand against his, singing the last verse of the song softly into his ear. 

"Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can't help falling in love with you" and Jed joined her for the last line "For I can't help falling in love with you." As the music ended Jed pulled slowly away and looked down at Abbey with something akin to awe in his gaze and voice. 

"Christ Abbey, I always knew you had a beautiful voice. But, hell, you could be a professional." 

"Oh, I don't think so, Jed," she shook her head, "but thanks for thinking that." 

"How did you record it?" 

"When we were at a fund-raiser in California, I mentioned wanting to do something like this for you and the next thing I knew I had record producers fighting over wanting to help me record it." 

"This is so great," he grinned, setting the CD to play again. "Everything was great. The book, the video, the song. The only thing missing is the Chinese food we ate on that first date." 

"The night is not over yet. I have a feeling there may be some General Tso's chicken and fried rice somewhere on your menu tonight." 

"Have I happened to mention to you this evening that I love you very much?" 

"Not yet," she smiled, accepting his light sweet kiss, "but I thought I might hear it at some point tonight." 

"And?" He asked questioningly. 

"And what?" Her look was one of pure innocence. 

"Don't you have something you want to say to me?" 

"Oh yeah," she teased, "I happen to love you too. Now, come on, let's go join the party." 

Chapter 15: 

"Ok, last but not least," Liz said as she walked toward her parents with a very large, flat wrapped gift. 

"There's more?" Abbey asked astonished as her eyes scanned all the 'loot', as Jed kept referring to it, that their friends and family had bestowed upon them. 

"This one is from Aunt Jane," Liz said setting it down in front of them. Both Jed and Abbey were silent as the torn paper revealed the gift inside. This was not one of the many sketches Jed had seen; this was an incredible oil painting of he and Abbey. It was obvious that Jane had witnessed a brief moment in their reunion, for in the picture Abbey sat on the cliffs at the edge of the sea. Jed was smiling down at her holding his hand out to clasp hers. Abbey's head was tilted back to look up at his face and she was giving him that intimate smile that was reserved only for her husband. Gone was the sadness and longing, and in its place the softening of the features that only love could bring about. It was obviously the culmination of the series Jane had begun at the beginning of Abbey's vacation. This was what her sister had been waiting for in all those previous sketches, her husband's arrival in both body and spirit. The fact that the relief and joy was captured on canvas both stunned and moved the first couple. 

"Well, I think that's the first time I've ever seen the two of them speechless," Leo grinned and the silence was broken by laughter. 

"Janey, I don't know what to say," Abbey sighed, "this is just magnificent. Thank you." She kissed her sister's cheek. 

"Yes, thank you Jane. It's beautiful," Jed moved to kiss her cheek. 

"She needs you," Jane whispered softly into his ear. 

"I'll let you in on a little secret," he said in a low voice that only Jane could hear, "I need her too." 

"Hell Jed, we all knew that," Jane grinned with an impish smile that reminded him of his wife. 

"Well, that's everything," Zoey said. 

"Before we go out to the party, I'd like to watch the video you girls made us," Jed said as he moved to put the tape in the VCR. A hush came over the room as 'A Steven Spielberg production' flashed on the screen. 

"Steven Spielberg?" Abbey looked at Jed puzzled, wondering just what kind of tape this would be. Then, there on the screen were their three eldest daughters sitting on the porch at the farm with Nicholas and Aislinn on their laps. 

"This is the story of our parents Josiah and Abigail Bartlet," they all said in unison. "We hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane. We love you Mom and Dad." The picture faded and the first bars of Kenny Rogers song 'Through the Years' began. 

"I can't remember when you weren't there, when I didn't care, for anyone but you..." 

Still photos of the two of them growing up then covered the screen. Jed always so formal and almost stiff while Abbey laughed with complete irreverence. The still photos soon became grainy moving video from their Notre Dame graduation. Laughter filled the room as they watched Abbey hit Jed's cap off his head and he chased her down, swinging her into his arms when he caught her. 

"Where did you get this video?" Abbey asked. 

"We converted Grandpa's old 8 millimeter home movies," Zoey beamed, "with a little help from Hollywood." 

"Oh look, it's the wedding," CJ said. "Abbey, you look gorgeous, I've always thought that was such a beautiful gown." Abbey smiled at her, then took Jed's hand as they watched their mothers light their single candles proclaiming their birth and then the two of them merged their single flames into one, which signified their union. More laughter then filled the room as Abbey gently fed Jed his slice of cake before dotting his nose with the icing. Not to be outdone, Jed rubbed his nose against hers, then kissed the frosting off. 

"Here's where I come in," Liz smiled as a very young Abbey sat on the couch trying to soothe her 4 day-old infant, while Jed looked on. Both had that nervous new parent look that made it obvious they were very new to the game. 

"Where is that?" Sam asked, not recognizing it as a room at the farm. 

"That was our first apartment together in London," Jed answered, then turned back to see Abbey's graduation from medical school. 

"That's me in there," Ellie said as the video moved along to Jed with his arms around a very pregnant Abbey from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder and his hands splayed over the swell of her belly. 

"That was at Evan's wedding," Abbey said, resting her head on Jed's shoulder. 

"His second wedding," he reminded her and received a soft elbow to the ribs for that irreverent remark. 

"That's me," Zoey said softly and Charlie, who had just arrived that afternoon, took her hand as the room went quiet while they witnessed the heartbreaking scenes of a tiny, very premature Zoey in her incubator hooked up to tubes and wires. Jed watched a tear slide down Abbey's cheek as she relived the moment when they finally got to hold their baby for the first time. He squeezed her hand letting her know that he too remembered the joy of that moment. Then, the tears turned to laughter as they watched Zoey smearing pink frosting into her wispy red curls at her first birthday. 

"Is that a castle?" Josh asked. 

"That was in Sweden," Abbey explained, "when Jed got his Nobel Prize." She had never been more proud of her husband than in that moment of recognition and achievement. 

The next years were a montage of birthday parties, vacations at the beach, and cheering their daughters on at sporting events. This very quickly moved to Jed dancing with his wife and young daughters at inaugurations and it wasn't long before New Hampshire's First Family was seen campaigning around the country together for the Presidency. The incredible joy was apparent as they stood together on that cold New Hampshire night in front of a crowd of thousands to thank everyone for their help in the victory. Then, there was the Inauguration. Jed remembered how nervous he had been taking the Oath of Office, his hand on his mother's bible, which Abbey held for him. But, he had looked up into his wife's reassuring green eyes and a sense of calm had descended over him. After a lot of dancing scenes from inaugural balls and state dinners, there was Jed in his third State of the Union address. Abbey smiled as the tape showed her sitting with her daughters very, very pregnant, and in the next instant panned to her empty seat. 

"This is where these guys come in," she said, bouncing Nicholas lightly on her knee. She kissed the top of his head and turned to look at her daughter who was sleeping soundly in her father's arms and ran her finger gently up her arm. She leaned back against swallowing past the lump in her throat that formed as she listened to the lyrics. 

"Through the years, when everything went wrong, together we were strong, I know that I belong right here with you, Through the years, I never had a doubt, we'd always work things out, I've learned what life's about, by loving you, through the years." 

After the past year they had just made it through when almost everything did go wrong, the words hit a little too close to home and Abbey discreetly wiped the tears from her eyes trying not to smudge her mascara. 

"I thought this was supposed to be a party," said a loud voice from the doorway. 

"Evan!" Abbey cried and everyone watched her race from the couch into her brother's arms. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it." 

"Would I miss your party?" He scolded. 

"Wouldn't be the first time," Jed muttered under his breath but moved forward to reluctantly greet Abbey's brother. As he approached Evan, his brother-in-law's young, busty, blonde wife stepped in front of him. She wore a skintight dress that left nothing to the imagination, her breasts practically spilling out of it. Jed noted to himself that there was sexy and there was slutty and obviously CeCe O'Neill didn't understand the difference. He hid his disdain through a tight smile as she hugged him pressing her chest into him a little harder than was appropriate for her brother-in-law, especially a brother-in-law she had only met twice before. Jed's eyes were searching for his nieces as he broke away from the blonde and a big smile crossed his face as he saw little Hannah hiding shyly behind her half sister Bridget's back. It was completely typical that the child felt more comfortable with her sister than her father and his new wife. 

"Hannah banana," he called out and Bridget stepped aside so Jed could swing the girl into his arms. "Don't you look as pretty as a picture tonight?" 

"Hi Unca Jed," Hannah giggled. Hannah O'Neill was 12 years old in body but in mind, she was only around 6. She had not had enough oxygen during delivery and thus had some mental retardation. Soon after her birth, Evan had left her mother Elaine citing his inability to deal with Hannah's handicap as his reason for divorce. It was the one time that Jed had seen Abbey ready to disown him. She had been as furious and disgusted with Evan as he was and had gone almost a year without talking to him. Jed had always had a special place in his heart for his sweet, loving, little niece who had, though no fault of her own, gotten stuck with a man who didn't know how to love her for a father. He certainly knew exactly how that went. He and Abbey had remained close with Lanie and she had often allowed Hannah to visit the farm when Annie was over so they could play together. 

"Where are the girls?" Bridget asked, giving her Aunt a hug. Bridget was a year older than Ellie, a product of Evan's first marriage. 

"They're outside giving the orchestra a song list. Why don't you go out and join them?" 

"Ok, Hannah, you want to come see the orchestra with me?" 

"No, wanna go with Unca Jed to find Annie," Bridget looked at Abbey, obviously reluctant to leave Hannah in anyone else's care. 

"It's ok, go and have fun. We'll keep an eye on her," Abbey said. Jed took Hannah's hand and was starting to walk away when CeCe's voice stopped him. 

"Hannah, don't you be a pest. Your Uncle is a very important man, he doesn't have time to play with a child." Jed watched Hannah look back warily at her stepmother, then turn to look up him with those wide hazel eyes that his own daughters shared. 

"As a matter of fact, CeCe, I do have the time," he said, his jaw clenching with anger. "Miss Hannah here has promised me the first dance tonight." He turned to walk away and Abbey gripped her sister-in-law's arm. 

"Don't you ever refer to her as a pest again," she said sternly. "Hannah may be slow but she isn't stupid, she knows what you called her." 

"Abbey, CeCe is just getting to understand Hannah's problems," Evan said in placating tones. "She is trying." 

**** 

The outside lawn of the cottage had been transformed into some sort of fairyland. Small twinkling white lights were hung on every shrub and bush and small ground lanterns lit the way from the tents to the house. Two huge tents had been erected, one for the elegant orchestra and dance floor and one with tables piled high with food and empty tables to sit at. Abbey stood at the champagne fountain near the dance floor to fill her glass, a soft smile playing on her lips as she watched her husband dancing with their niece. She still couldn't believe the staff had gotten Harry Connick Jr. to sing all their old favorites. 

"This party is just amazing," CJ said coming up on her elbow. "It's like some kind of midsummer night's ball." 

"It is, isn't it? I've been looking for you. There's someone here I would like you to see." 

"Oh Abbey, I don't know if I am up to making scintillating conversation with one of your doctor buddies tonight," CJ said. She knew exactly who she wanted to be with tonight, but that was not to be. 

"Too bad, let's go." Abbey began to drag the taller woman across the floor to the other side of tent where Josh was talking to a group of people. 

"Josh?" CJ asked skeptically, "Have you been drinking?" But before Abbey could answer her, one of the men turned around and CJ was faced with that familiar red beard and twinkling green eyes. A face she hadn't seen in months. 

"Danny," she almost gasped. 

"Hi CJ," he gave that sweet irresistible grin that had always melted her heart. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked. She was the White House press secretary and knew that there weren't any reporters or photographers covering this event. 

"I got invited." 

"Danny is doing an article about my take on the upcoming anniversary of Rosslyn," Abbey said, "So I thought I'd invite him up early so he could spend some time with you...us. It has been a while." Abbey was grinning slyly, enjoying her machinations immensely. 

"Very subtle," CJ rolled her eyes at the First Lady. 

"Care to dance?" Danny asked and before CJ could answer, he was dragging her out onto the floor. 

Jed found his wife a few minutes later smiling and sipping from her champagne glass. His gaze followed hers and he saw CJ looking very comfortable in Danny's arms. 

"You're looking very self satisfied," he said, taking her crystal flute and sipping the champagne. "I see you have your matchmaker's wand out again." 

"What do you mean 'again'?" 

"I mean you can't resist the urge to set people up." 

"I'm happy, Jed. I can't help it, I want everyone we care about to be as happy as we are." 

"I know you do sweetheart," he kissed the tip of her nose, "but it doesn't always work out that way." He looked across the floor at a scowling Leo who was nursing a glass of soda water while watching his ex-wife dance with her new boyfriend. 

"You did everything you could to patch them back up, Jed," Abbey rubbed his arm. "That marriage couldn't be saved." 

"I know that now. It doesn't make it any easier. But, that's enough of this morose talk. Come, my beautiful damsel, and dance with me under the stars," he said with a sweeping courtly bow. 

"We're under a tent, Jed," she reminded him. 

"That scientific mind of yours is always too damned literal. Come on then, I'll show you the stars," he began to lead her out of the tent. 

"Oh no you don't Jed Bartlet," Michael O' Neill stated from the podium. "Don't you think you're going to sneak my little girl out of here. At least not before I make my toast." 

"Better make it a quick one, I want to dance with my wife," Jed called back to him and soft laughter filled the room" 

"I'm an old man, I don't know how fast it will be. Now, where was I? Oh yes, when young Jed came into my study all those years ago to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage, my first thought was that they were too young and too ambitious for it to work. But, when he asked me for my blessing, I could see what I had always seen in his eyes when it came to Abbey. Love. I made him promise me three things on that day. One, to always love my daughter even when she wasn't being easy to love. Two, to be true to her with all his heart and soul and three, never to intentionally hurt her. Notice I said intentionally. In a marriage as long as the one I hoped Jed and Abbey would share there is no way around hurting your partner. Hurting without malice was the oath I made him take. Jed looked me straight in the eye and gave me his word that he would adhere to my promises. Now, here we are with the two of them and the beautiful family they have created and I am here to tell you that my son-i-law is one politician who keeps his word. I couldn't be happier with the kind of husband and father Jed has turned out to be for my daughter and grandchildren. And Abbey, what can I say, Princess? I am in awe of the woman that you have become. You are a brilliant doctor and an amazing wife and mother. Jed, Abbey, your mother and I just want to tell you that we both love you with all our hearts and we are exceedingly proud of what you have accomplished in your relationship as well as in your lives. To Jed and Abbey," he lifted his glass. 

Jed inclined his head in acknowledgment to Michael and Abbey blew her father a kiss. 

"I think your Dad should have been in politics," Jed said bringing Abbey's hand to his lips and kissing her palm. "He makes a hell of a toast." 

"He's happy just campaigning for you," she ran that hand over his rough cheek. 

"Come on," he urged, "let's go take that dance under the stars." 

**** 

Jed kissed Ellie's cheek as they finished their dance and he grudgingly gave her hand to Davis, who was waiting his turn. There was still something about him that rubbed Jed the wrong way. He wished he could pinpoint what it was that bothered him but it was just a vague feeling inside. He turned from his daughter and spotted Abbey across the floor dancing with Leo. He was hot and thirsty and grabbed a glass of champagne, which he downed in one gulp to quench his thirst. Champagne had never been his drink of choice, it was more Abbey's forte. He was more of a beer or scotch man. His enjoyment of champagne came with how it affected his adorable wife, lowering her inhibitions and making her amorous as hell. He looked into the fizzy bubbles and smiled, almost laughing aloud as he realized that it was due to a few glasses of this bubbly liquid that he had two new sleeping babies in the house. He was strolling across the floor intending to cut in on Leo when he overheard his brother Jon talking to Evan. 

"Your son Owen is in college now, isn't he?" Jon asked. 

"Yes, he's a senior at Penn State. He should be heading back in another week or so." 

"Actually," Jed interjected, "if you knew anything about your son, you would know that Owen is in Peru this semester on a dig. Abbey and I got a letter and pictures from him just last week." 

"I didn't realize that was this semester," Evan said, trying to keep it light. He was not going to get into an argument over family with his brother-in-law. They had had enough of those over the years and it was one argument that Jed would always win. 

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Abbey smiled breathlessly as she linked her arm with Jed on one side and Evan on the other. Jed looked down into his wife's happy face and bit back his caustic reply. For better or worse, Evan was his wife's brother and Abbey loved him very much. Saying what he truly felt about Evan would mean nothing to him and would only hurt Abbey. Evan was her Achilles heel and he knew all about having one of those. In fact, he had one himself, his father. 

"Just talking about Owen's dig in Peru," Jed smiled, kissing the top of her head. Evan looked at him in surprise but kept his mouth shut. At that moment, Hannah approached and began tugging on her father's jacket to get his attention. 

"Daddy...Daddy." 

"What?" Evan asked exasperated. Hannah looked at him obviously wanting to say something but too embarrassed to do so. She moved from one foot to the other with discomfort. "Hannah, what do you want?" He asked again. Hannah bit her lip and pulled her father's arm down to whisper into his ear. "Now?" he asked and Hannah nodded. Evan began to scan the room. "Where the hell is Bridget?" Abbey saw her niece dancing with a handsome young man and felt there was no need to interrupt her good time. 

"Why do you need Bridget?" She asked. 

"Hannah has to go to the bathroom," he said. Abbey could see the flush of embarrassment rise in Hannah's face and moved to take her hand. 

"Insensitive prick," Jed cursed under his breath so that only Leo could hear him and concur. 

"I'll take her," Abbey said. 

"I could go myself, Aunt Abbey. I'm a big girl. But, I don't know where it is." Tears filled the pre-teen's eyes. 

"No problem, sweetheart, I'll show you just where it is." 

Jed watched Abbey leading the young girl away and thought about the one fight that she had had with her brother that had caused a major rift in their relationship. He remembered that day he had tried so hard to convince Evan to stay with his wife and help her to deal with their new baby. Hannah was only a few weeks old and Lanie had called Abbey in tears saying that Evan was leaving her because she wouldn't give their daughter up for adoption, or at the very least, put her in an institution. He and Abbey had driven down to Massachusetts in silence. They were both aware that there was nothing to say, as neither of them was able to believe that Evan could be doing something as callous as abandoning his family when they needed him most. They arrived in a horrible rainstorm to find Lanie, who was still recovering from a C-section, comforting 9 year old Owen while Evan packed. Abbey stayed with Lanie while Jed walked down to the master bedroom. 

(Massachusetts, 12 years ago) 

"Evan," he said, entering the room, striding forward to shut his open suitcase. "You cannot do this. You simply cannot do this." 

"Don't try to tell me what I can and can't do. This is just not something I can deal with and Lanie won't see that." 

"Look, I know you're scared but you can't run away from this. Not this time, the stakes are too high." 

"You don't know anything about this," Evan said angrily. "You've got three healthy, NORMAL children! You have no idea how you would react if one of them was handicapped." 

"You're wrong about that," Jed said, thinking back to Abbey's emergency delivery of Zoey 8 years earlier. "When Zoey was born so premature the doctors had no idea whether she would suffer from brain damage, or what type of health problems or learning problems she might have, yeah that scared the hell out of me. But, Jesus Evan, she was my DAUGHTER and from the second I saw her I loved her with every ounce of my being. All I could think of was how much I wanted to love and protect her and make sure that no matter what happened, she had the very best life I could give her. That baby crying out there is your own flesh and blood. No matter what fear or disappointment you may have, you DON'T abandon your child." 

"Well, Zoey ended up fine, didn't she?" Evan said coldly. "My daughter is RETARDED, Jed. Do you know what kind of life she is going to have?" 

"No, I don't. But, I know it isn't going to be any easier without having her father. And what about Lanie? She's your wife. You're just going to walk away from her?" 

"Lanie made her choice," he said bitterly. "She chose Hannah." 

"Jesus," Jed breathed shaking his head, "this is low, even for you. I don't know how you can live with yourself." 

"Well, we can't all be Saint Jed, can we?" 

"I'm no saint," Jed snorted, "but I do know the difference between right and wrong and what you're doing is wrong. It is just plain wrong," he turned to leave the room. 

(Maine, present day) 

Abbey found Jed at the edge of the tent, drinking from a glass of champagne and gazing up at the stars. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, rubbing her cheek against the back of his shoulder. 

"Hannah's all set," she said softly, "and my dance card appears to be empty." Jed turned around and Abbey could see the troubled set of his blue eyes. "Don't say it, Jed," she sighed. 

"What? I didn't say a word." 

"But you're thinking it. Evan is making a concerted effort to be a part of Hannah's life, especially now that he has remarried." 

"Speaking of his new marriage, where is the octopus?" Jed asked, pulling his wife into his arms determined not to let any disagreements about Evan mar their evening. 

"The octopus?" Abbey asked puzzled. "Why do you call her that?" 

"Because she must have about 8 hands. I move one and the other ends up in the same spot. She actually grabbed my ass when we were dancing." 

"She grabbed your ass?" Abbey asked, green eyes starting to flash with anger, "who the hell does she think she is? I swear I..." 

"Whoa," Jed chuckled, "that sure got your Irish up. Don't sweat it, babe, when I removed it, she apologized and said that her hand slipped." 

"What a load of bull," Abbey sniffed. "She better not try anything like that again." 

"Oh yeah," he drawled, lazily running a finger down her soft throat, "what are you going to do about it?" 

"I'll show her what happens to women who think they can put their hands on my man." 

"Gonna get tough with her, are you?" Jed smiled. 

"Damn straight," she grinned back, "nobody touches your ass but me." To emphasize her point, she ran her hand softly over his rear and gave a squeeze. 

"Hey lady, don't go starting anything you don't intend on finishing," he said, pulling her into his arms. 

"Oh, I intend on finishing all right," she said, pressing her lips to his jaw. 

"Good, let's go," he said pulling back from her before the slight action in his groin became an all out erection. "Let's go down to the gazebo." 

"We're not going to go have a quickie in the gazebo," Abbey couldn't help but smile at her husband's eagerness. He still reacted to sex like a teenage boy at times, but then again, that was part of his charm. 

"Ah, come on Abbey. You said you intended on finishing." 

"And I do," she almost purred, "but it won't be a quickie. I'm going to kiss you and touch you and run my lips all over you, the way I was too nervous and inexperienced to do on our wedding night." Jed swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. 

"OK," he said in a shaky voice, "let's go." 

"AFTER the party," she said firmly, running a finger over his lips. "The anticipation will make it better." 

"Or kill me," he grumbled. 

"Good things happen to those who wait," she gave him a flirtatious smile and turned to walk away. 

"You're an evil woman, Abigail Bartlet, pure evil," he looked down ruefully at his waist knowing it would be a few more minutes before he could join her at the party. 

Chapter 17: 

As the evening began to wind down and many of the guests started to leave, Jed watched the graceful sway of his wife's hips as she crossed the dance floor on his brother's arm to join the crowd around the champagne fountain. He watched with purely wicked intent as she placed her stiletto heeled foot forward causing the silky fabric of her dress to part at the slit to reveal a sleek expanse of shapely leg and thigh. He watched her tilt her head back to laugh at something Danny Concannon said and all he could think about was running his lips and tongue over the soft column of her throat. He took a step forward and seemed puzzled when his body didn't move exactly the way he wanted it to. He felt a bit like he was on his way to being drunk, but that couldn't be. There was no way he could have gotten drunk on champagne, of all things. 

Abbey watched with an amused smile as Jed approached the group. He had removed his tuxedo jacket, his bow tie was askew, a lock of his bronze hair lay over his forehead and his eyes held that glazed sleepy look. He was Jed Bartlet the way she loved him most, rumpled and sexy as hell. He was also, she suspected, drunk. 

"Dance with me," he insisted when he stopped to stand in front of her. 

"In case you haven't noticed darling, the orchestra isn't playing at the moment." 

"We can take care of that," he pulled her into his arms and his deep baritone voice carried over the night air as he began to serenade his wife with a verse from the last song they had danced to. 

"And the way your smile, wrinkles your nose, touches my foolish heart. Lovely, don't you ever change, keep that breathless charm, Won't you please arrange it, cause I love you. Just the way you look tonight." 

He finished the song with a flourish, expertly spinning Abbey, then pulling her into his arms, to the enthusiastic clapping of all those present. 

"C'n you believe this gorgeous woman actually agreed to be my wife"?" He asked, his words slightly slurred from alcohol. 

"There's no accounting for taste, I guess," Toby deadpanned. 

"Women are fickle creatures," Leo added. 

"They sure are," Jed agreed, nodding his head. "And thank God they are. I mean here was this brilliant, fascinating young woman and I was actually planning to become a priest. What a pair we must have made." 

"Indeed, sir," Sam tried to stifle his smile. 

"Abbey was very pretty then, boys," he slipped his arm around his wife's waist. 

"Jed," Abbey protested, "I'm standing right here." 

"As I was saying," Jed ignored her, "she was very pretty back then, but she didn't have anything on the way she looks today. Isn't she just a knock out?" He squeezed Abbey closer to his side. 

"Jed, stop," Abbey protested. "You're drunk." 

"I'm not drunk," he insisted. "I've only been drinking champagne. A man doesn't get inebriated on champagne. I was simply stating a fact, Abigail. YOU," he pointed a finger into her face with a serious look, "are a stunningly attractive woman. I especially like this cut in the side," he said, running his hand up the bare expanse of her leg." 

"It's called a slit Jed, and stop it." She began to fight off his wandering hands. 

"My wife has great legs, boys. Dancers legs. It's cause she likes to do a lot of hiking. You boys find yourselves women who like to hike. You won't be sorry." 

"We will, sir," Josh bit back his laughter. 

"Cause you know there is nothing like a pair of gorgeous legs like these wrapped around your..." 

"Jed!" Abbey gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth before he could finish his statement. 

"Oh come on, Mrs. B, let him finish," Danny grinned as he pretended to take notes. 

"Yeah, come on," Josh and Sam added, "we'd like to hear where this was going." 

"Not on your life," she glared at them. Toby glanced at Leo who was being surprisingly quiet on the subject. Leo didn't need to hear the details. He'd imagined those sexy legs around his own waist many a night. 

"Earth to Leo," Josh was saying. 

"What?" Leo asked. 

"Don't you think Mrs. Bartlet should let the President finish?" 

"Nah, leave her alone guys." 

"Abbey, let go," Jed's voice was muffled against her palm. 

"Only if you promise to be a good boy." 

"I promise," he said but couldn't resist the urge to flick his tongue out to wet her palm. Abbey felt a quick stab of desire warm from her belly to her groin and she quickly pulled her palm away. 

"That was a cheap shot," she murmured. 

"You know I like to play dirty," he gave her a leering smile and winced at the stinging sensation on his lip. "You cut my lip when you hit me," he accused her with a little boy pout. 

"Where?" Abbey asked, moving closer to examine the tiny cut. Jed seized the moment and captured her lips with his, kissing her so thoroughly Abbey tasted the blood from his cut. 

Toby cleared his throat, uncomfortable with this display of affection, while the others simply smiled with amusement. "Uh, would you like us all to leave you two alone?" He asked. 

"Would you?" Jed asked. 

"Jed, stop it," Abbey admonished him, slapping him lightly on the shoulder. 

"Hey listen," Jed said, his attention moving to the small stage. "The orchestra is playing again. Let's dance." He took Abbey's hand and pulled her out on to the dance floor. 

"Have they always been like this?" Danny asked with a laugh. 

"For as long as they've been together," Jon smiled affectionately. It was not anybody's business to know that Jed had not always been this way. That the serious, earnest, wary boy his brother had been had blossomed under Abbey's love into the teasing, confident, openly affectionate man that he was today. Oh, there were still hints of that boy at times, neither of them would ever completely overcome their cold and sometimes harsh childhood. But, he honestly believed that growing up the way he had, had taught Jed to appreciate the warmth and loving nature of his wife, and the laughter of his own children in ways he might never had if he had been raised differently. 

Abbey's hips swayed against Jed's to the beat of the music, her head tucked under his chin. She felt her nipples harden as he pulled her tighter against his chest and she noticed that he had maneuvered her outside where they could dance like pagan lovers under the moon and stars. 

Abbey nuzzled her nose into the hollow of Jed's throat where he had unbuttoned his collar, savoring this moment. She knew it would all be over too soon. They were leaving for Washington in two days and this blissful interlude would be over and only a distant memory as the realities of the world would come crashing over them the instant they were back on Air Force One. She didn't resent that. She was ready. Ready for the upcoming battles, but for tonight she simply wanted to feel safe and cherished in the arms of the man she had loved for so long she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't loved been in love with him. The man who had seen her at her best and her worst, who knew her fears and her secrets and who could still make her body hum with the anticipation of his touch. 

Jed inhaled deeply the scent of Abbey's hair, his hands moving over her bare back unable to get enough of her soft warm skin. She smelled of apricots and lilac, a purely feminine scent that set his masculine hormones raging. It wasn't long before his hands slid lower to grasp her rear and pull her hips into his. 

"You think you're going to get fresh with me out here?" Abbey asked, pulling his hands back up to the small of her back. 

"I thought I'd give it the old college try," he nipped her earlobe as he ran his fingers up her spine. Abbey felt herself weakening, her heart beginning to race. "You want to get out of here as much as I do, don't deny it." 

"I won't deny it. Let's see if we can't sneak out." There were only a few guests left at this hour but two of them were Michael and Beth O'Neill who were still wrapped in each other's arms on the dance floor. Jed and Abbey stopped briefly to watch them. 

"I want to be dancing like that in 25 years," Abbey said wistfully. 

"We will," Jed promised, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "We'll be out here dancing, surrounded by our children and dozens of grandchildren, all of whom will be used to the fact that their old grandpa still has the hots for their sexy grandma." Abbey took his hand in hers, lifting it to her lips. 

"Promise me you still won't be able to keep your hands to yourself," she said kissing the back of his hand. 

"Oh, I can promise you that, sweetheart. As long as you promise that you'll still want my hands all over you." 

"I'll always want your hands all over me," she grinned. "Just not always in public." 

"Tough," he pinched her rear. "Cause I'm gonna keep doing that till the day I die." 

**** 

Jed and Abbey found that it was not so easy to sneak off when you were the First Couple and the party was in your honor. So, it was almost an hour later, with the orchestra and guests gone, that Abbey walked down the hall of the cottage barefoot, her heels dangling from her fingertips and Jed's arm around her waist. He was singing some foolish song while she tried to hush him so he wouldn't wake the twins. 

"Josiah," Emily called out sternly from her bedroom. "Some of us are trying to sleep. Do be quiet." Abbey looked at Jed and covered her mouth to muffle her giggles. 

"That was not the voice I wanted to hear right before I make bone melting love to my wife," he stated sarcastically as they entered the bedroom. 

"Bone melting eh?" She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know Jed, you have had an awful lot to drink tonight." 

"Is that a challenge I hear?" He asked, pinning her up against the wall. 

"Merely an observation," Abbey's lips parted as his descended on her but when his hand slide up to cup her breast, she pushed lightly against him. 

"Hold on Casanova, don't get too carried away yet. I'll be right back." 

"Don't take too long," he warned. 

"I won't," she looked back over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom. "Just don't go starting without me." She gave that impish smile that never failed to warm his heart and shut the door behind her. 

When Abbey re-entered the room wearing a short silk maroon bathrobe, she found Jed laying stretched out on the bed wearing only a pair of silk boxers she had purchased for him. His arms were crossed behind his head and the sweeping look of desire he gave her made her long to lay flat on top of him her length pressed in to his. But, as she placed a knee on the bed, she noticed a small black velvet box on her pillow. 

"What's this?" She asked. 

"Open it." 

"Jed, you already gave me my present." 

"Just open it." Abbey did so and inside found a gleaming pair of emerald earrings. 

"Jed, they're beautiful," she sighed. 

"Those earrings are to remind you of our honeymoon on the Emerald Isle and to show you that I desire you as much now as I did then, when we were so young and foolish we thought sex was all we would need to get us through the hard spots." 

"It still works pretty damn good." Abbey gave him a sultry smile as she began to replace the earrings she had on with the emeralds. She moved forward to stand in front of the full-length oval mirror, lifting her hair to examine the earrings. She watched in the mirror as Jed approached her from behind, placing his hands on her shoulders. 

"They're beautiful," he said, kissing the nape of her neck while his hand moved to trace her collarbone where the diamonds rested. 

"Yes, they are," she moved her head from side to side. 

"You're beautiful," his hands slid to part her robe and revealed her full naked breasts and scanty peach lace string bikini panties. Abbey watched in the mirror as he continued to nuzzle along her shoulder while his hand moved over her belly. He ran a finger lightly over her lace-covered warmth sending a throbbing tingle all the way down her thighs. 

"Open your eyes babe," Jed whispered, sucking harder on the flesh of her neck. Abbey opened her eyes in time to see Jed's hand disappear into her panties to begin to stroke her. She leaned back heavily against his chest, soft sighs emanating from her throat. She did her best to keep her eyes open to the incredibly erotic vision of Jed's hand moving inside her panties. 

"Do you remember the first time I touched you here?" he asked, pressing his hips into her rear so she could feel how hard he was. 

"Mmmm..." she gave a soft moan. 

"You came within seconds." 

"Mmmhmmm..." she agreed with another moan as she threw her head back against his shoulder, her legs weak and feeling like jelly as he continued to pleasure her. "The bed Jed...the bed," she whispered urgently. 

Jed removed his hand and Abbey yanked him towards the bed, needing the friction to continue to completion. She crawled onto the bed, pulling him down with her but froze at the loud squeak the bed made. 

"What?" Jed asked, feeling her pull away. 

"We can't do it here." 

"What am I missing, Abbey?" 

"Listen to the bed. It squeaks when we just kneel on it, never mind more vigorous activity." 

"That hasn't seemed to bother you before." 

"Your mother wasn't sleeping next door before." 

"So what?" His frustration was apparent. 

""So she'll know we're having sex." 

"I repeat, so what?" 

"I'm not having sex with you on this bed," she said, and he knew that tone of finality very well. 

"Oh hell's bells Abigail," he groaned with exasperation. He pulled her off the bed and began yanking hard at the mattress. 

"What are you doing now?" 

"I'm not fucking you on the floor tonight. I'm making love to you on a bed. He pulled the mattress off the box spring and onto the floor. "There," he said with a satisfied grin. "No more squeaking. Now where was I?" Abbey kneeled on the mattress, wearing only the tiny scrap of panties and her diamond necklace and earrings, her long curling auburn hair spilled over her shoulders. She gave him a coy smile and beckoned him with a crooked finger. Jed knelt in front of her and she took his hand pressing it back just where he had been. 

"Oh yeah, now I remember." But instead of picking up where he had left off, Jed slid the panties down over her hips then allowed her to do away with his boxers. When they finished they were kneeling, pressed together as they kissed deeply and lingeringly, thigh to thigh, hip to hip, chest to breast. Abbey pressed her nipples into Jed's rough chest hair as their hands trailed gently over each other's bodies. 

"You smell so good," Jed murmured. "You feel so soft." 

"Mallory said we were like harem girls being prepared today," she said, her lips moving along his jaw. 

"Did SVEN help to prepare you?" He growled. "I thought I told you no big Swedes." 

"You are not the boss of me," she sassed. "And yes, Sven does give a divine massage." 

"Enough about that damn Swede. I'm going to make you forget all about his hands." 

That's just what I was hoping for darling Abbey thought, pleased that her plan seemed to be working. Jed began to lay her back on the mattress, his eyes drinking her nude body in. It wasn't the same body as the girl he had married all those years ago. That girlish thin figure had blossomed into the incredibly lush female form that lay before him. He ran his fingers over the fuller breasts that had nourished and continued to nourish his children, down over her still flat but softer belly to the hips that had widened just slightly to cradle his babies while they grew inside her and now formed the soft feminine curves he loved to stroke. This was a woman's body. A soft, curvy, incredibly luscious woman's body. 

As Jed stretched out beside her, Abbey slid a leg over his hip so she could roll on top of him to straddle his waist. She ran her fingertips through his chest hair and stroked his flat hard nipples with her thumb before bending down to do the same with her tongue and lips. Jed's hand moved back between her thighs stroking her with the circular motions that he knew would send her over the edge. 

"You aren't fantasizing about Sven, are you?" He asked, his fingers pausing. 

"Oh Jed, shut up about Sven," she wiggled her hips against his still fingers. 

"No. I want to know if his hands turned you on." 

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Jed, there was no Sven. My masseuse was an old Chinese man, you jackass." 

"Mr. Woo?" Jed grinned. 

"You bastard. You already knew," she bit her lip her lip against the pleasure that was growing more urgent between her thighs. 

"Yup. You owe me an apology for lying to me, gumdrop." 

"Like hell," she sighed. 

"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said sadly, and removed his fingers with a lingering passage over that sensitized bundle of nerves. 

"Don't stop," she nearly gasped as she reached out for his hand. 

"Two words, Abigail," his grin was wickedly boyish now. 

"Jed...," she whimpered. 

"Abbey..." he ran his tongue over her nipple causing the ache between her legs to intensify. Abbey knew it was either scream with frustration or cave in. 

"Oh all right. I'm sorry dammit. Now, PLEASE, Jed." 

"Well, since you asked so nicely," he picked up the tempo right where he had left off and almost instantly felt her begin to tighten around him. He stroked her back as she muffled the cries of her climax into his chest. She lay still for a few long moments her breath coming in short ragged gasps, before she finally lay her elbow on his chest to look up at him. 

"You do fight dirty," she stated. "But two can play at that game." She sat back up and he could feel her wetness against his thigh, which almost did him in there and then. But, Abbey began to slide her tongue down his abdomen hearing the breath slide through his teeth as she slipped just the tip of him into her mouth. She had every intention of torturing him the way he had her. That is until she heard his voice. 

"Take me inside you, Abigail." That voice was deep and husky with need, more a plea than a command, and she was overwhelmed by the need to feel him deep and full inside her. She moved up his body to straddle his hips and slowly lowered herself onto him, reveling in the tight fullness of him as he filled her. Jed thought for sure that he would climax just looking at. His jewels shined on her throat and ears as the moonlight spilled over her creamy skin and fiery hair. Her back was arched, her head thrown back with pleasure as she moved her hips up and down, taking him deeply inside her. 

As the urgency of their mating gained momentum, so did Jed's need to feel all of her against him. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her down so that she lay on his chest and he kissed her deeply taking into his mouth the moan of pleasure that escaped her at the change of his angle inside her body. Jed's hands gripped her hips and he helped guide her into the rhythm of his upward thrusts. Abbey felt it all starting again deep inside her, only this time she knew was going to cry out when she came. She reached frantically for a pillow and buried her face into it as she cried out with release. Jed had no time to revel in the pleasure he had just given his wife. Everything inside him was filling and tightening and her name was coming from his throat in soft gasps of need. Abbey covered Jed's mouth with her palm but his moans were getting deeper and louder so she did the only thing she could think of, since she had thrown the pillow aside. She covered his lips with hers so that he gave the deep-agonized groan of her name into her mouth at the same moment he ejaculated so that Abbey felt completely filled with him. 

Abbey lay on his torso for a long while feeling Jed's fingers stroking her hair which fanned over his chest as he struggled to regain a normal breathing pattern. Abbey wished for a moment that she could keep him buried safely inside her like this forever. She had no way of knowing that Jed was having a similar wish, that he could keep her safe in his arms like this forever. But, that was not to be. There would be hell to pay when they returned to Washington. Both had to face up to their mistakes and the only question was who would be flayed the worst for it. 

However, none of that seemed to matter so much anymore. This little interlude had helped them to reconnect on every level and together they could do anything, bear anything. Together they would emerge from the fallout, perhaps worn, perhaps dusty, perhaps hurting, but never defeated. As long as they were united in the fight, they could never truly be beaten. 

THE END!! 

Sequel: "Under Siege" 


End file.
